The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-03-06

Private Secretary Thurber comes in
with his mornings budget.
For an hour already Mr.. Thurber
has been busy with the mornings s
mail, which consits OF 300 to 400
letters. Early in the administration,
when Office seekers were more active,
1900 was not an unusual batch. A few
epistles, evidently Of Il private nature,
he puts aside. Those which do not
appear to be of any special Importance
he sends to the executive clerk, who
dictates replies to stenographer
| Others he reads, reserving for the
Presidents eye such of them as require
| his attention. Of these last there NAV
be dozen or twenty.
Tho bulk of his correspondence is
never seen by Mr.. Cleveland. If he
tried to attend to it all himself he
would have no time for anything else.
Civil answers are sent to courteous
communications. Autographs of the
| President and his wife are mailed to
most people who ask for them. Mis-
sives from palpable cranks are thrown
| into the waste basket The whole, of
this business is accom- plshed without
even bothering tho chief magistrate for
plies to q majority of the letters ad-
dressed by strangers to Mrs. Clevc-
| land. 1t is one of the penalties of her
popularity that she is appealed to for
| advice and for help by people all over
| the United States whom she has mover
| seen or heard of.
AN hour and half is the time avail
able for going over the selected letters
with MIR. Thurber and for giving in
structions on affairs of immediate inn
portance. At ii if the day be Tues
day or Friday, tho cabinet meets.
Each Secretary has a budget of busi-
ness to lay before the President, com
| prising matters which only he can
pass on and decide. 1t is apt to be 3
or 3 p. m. before everything is disposed
of and the conference adjournes. Then
Mr.. Cleveland goes to lunch-too late,
of course, to meet his wife at that
meal, which he eats in solitary state.
Mrs. Cleveland usually chooses those
days tor the ladies' luncheons which
she gives frequently during the season.
WORK AFTER DINNER.
After lunch the President goes back
to the office and works until o'clock,
which is dinner time. Gen. Harrison
always put on evening dress for the
formal meal of the day but, as rule,
Mr.. Cleveland performs that ceremony
only when there is company. Dinner
over, he and his wife have q half
hours romp with the children. Ruth
is getting big enough now to appre-
ciate larks. Then the father of the
family returns to his desk and resumes
his toll, which continues until long
after midnight-often until , or 3 u.
m. When it is considered that all of
the departments are constantly en-
gagged in preparing matters fOr him to
determine and that cvey question that
comes up in Congress must reach him
sooner or later for consideration and
decision, it will be understood that
leisure is out OF the question for him.
He is the man from whom all things
emanate and in whom all things center,
so far as the government OF the people
of the United States is concerned 1t
is said that he is the hardest worker
that has ever occupied the chair of
chief executive. Wednesdays, Thurs
days and Saturdays, from 10 to l, Mr..
Cleveland receives Congressman and
| others who come on business. Not
withstanding much mistaken talk in
the newspapers, ReDr esentatives and
Senators who call at those hours do
not have any difficulty in seeing the
President, and it is not demanded of
them that they shall state their busi-
ness in advance to the private secre-
tary. Monday is always "licld day."
on which the chief magistrate sees no
| callers, devoting the time to clearing
| his desk of accumulated departmental
business, papers relating to appoint
| ments, applications for pardOns. &c.
On three days in every week he dcvotcs
| an hour to receiving the general public
| in the east rooms.
HEDGED IN BY GUARDS.
l IN Il
| always in more on less danger of an
attempt on his life by some murderous
crank. Accordingly he is fairly
| hedged in by guards. The captain of
the White House watch stands at his
right hand, while opposite him arc
stationed two other stalwart men,
| All three are armed with six shooters,
| which they would not hesitate Ito use
if called upon. Through the passage
thus formed by Mr.. Cleveland and his
protectors the crowd proceeds in
single file, each pcrson receiving q
| brief grasp and shake of the hand.
| Meanwhile two other policemen,
posted at the front door, have keenly
eyed every applicant for admission.
| Through practic they are able to detect
a doubtful character at q glance. A
crank is readily recognizable nearly
always. 1t would be hardly possible
! for anybody to make movement
hostile to the chief executive without
being instantly seized and disarmcd.
| Having greeted the people, tho Presi-
| dent makes two or three steps back
ward and disappears through private
| door into the main corridor of tho man
sion.
Mr.. Cleveland sees nothing and
hears little of the beggars and cranks
who come to demand aims or inter
views. 1t is hardly possible for any of
these people to get within speaking
distance OF him. Their letters are
destroyed, save when now and then a
| specimen is doomed sufficiently re-
markable to be worth adding to the
so-called "crank filc." Tho frequent
appeals for loans or gifts of money
which are addressed to the President
by mail never roach him. Persons
who want him to indorso notes or to
help them buy homes waste thier time
in writing to him. He is not, as SOM
individuals seem to imagine. in the
business of furnishing cash to lift the
mortgages from old family estates
threatened with foreclosure. Appli-
cants for cups, saucers and other brc-
a-brac, to remember the Executive
Mansion by, should address their re-
quests, though not too hopefully, to
Sinclair, the steward.
THE CORRESPONDENCE.
Even the kilograms addressed to
Mr.. Cleveland rarely get beyond Pri-
vate Secretary Thurber. The Presi-
dent, by the way, conducts most OF his
daily cOrreSpOndence with officers of