Evening star., 1896-12-26

departments. and the era of the corn
broom is passing. The charwoman detailed
to clean the carpeted rooms give the win
dows of the departments housekeeperly
look by shaking the desk rugs from them,
but when they are caught, as once In a
while they are, throwing any tiny bit OF
rubbish out OF the windows, they are Sc
verely reprimanded.
When ii is considered that the waste pa
per of a department like the treasury or the
interior figures up to two tons in weight
every day. 1t viii, be seen that the job of
emptying the waste paper baskets and re-
distributing them is pretty large task. 1t
is done according TO system. and there is
rot scrap of waste paper in single room
of a department building ten minutes after
the clerks have left of work.
The ChferS Room.
The charwomen detailed to attend TO the
cleaning of the Secretarys office are picked
out for this work on account of notable
neatness. Cabinet officers are often ex-
ceedingly fussy as to the manner in which
their offices are gone over by the cleaners,
aid there was a cabinet member of the
last administration who supervised the
policing" of his room himself. remaining
after the regular office hours for the pur-
pose. He had lost an important paper
from his desk early I'm his cabinet career
through the tidying-up efforts of a char
woman. and this made him so nervous that
ne cOulUn pear the 1dea OF gong away
from the building leaving his desk piled
with papers. So he watched the cleaning
of his room himself, and when the charwo-
man unconsciousiy edged in the direction of
his desk. 1t is said that this cabinet minis
ter exhibited symptoms of great agony.
Several of the members OF the present
cabinet habitually remain at their desks
for several hours after all of their depart
mentS' clerks have departed. and all of
them insist that their presence shall not in
terfere with the necessary cleaning OF their
rooms. 1t is instructive and interesting 10
observe the care and quietude with hich
the Interior Department charwomen clean
Secretary Francis Office while he is labor
ing away at his desk. Secretary Francis
often works at his desk late as 10
o'clock. He pays no attention to the sour
rying hither and thither of the busy wo-
men with baskets, rugs. CRATE Tenders and
other office paraphernalia, and the squeak
Ing Of the carpet sweepers doesn't bother
him little bit.
The average charwoman however, has a
deep grievance against the clerks who
whether voluntarily or necessarily. remain at
their desks after regular Office hours. There
are a lot of such clerks in the patent office,
who spend several hours after o'clock in
brushing up for examinations for promo
ton. The cbarwoman does not seek to
make 1t particularly pleasant for these.
and the fortitude of these students. con-
ming dry tones on mechanics in the midst
of clouds of dust and blown upon by icy
blasts from open windows, is admirable and
deserving OF cOumenudllOu-
The Engineers Force.
The work of rough cleaning by the char
women is all over by O'Clock, and they
leave the building to silence. The only oc-
cupants Of the buildings besides the watch
forces and the clerks and officials working
overtime are the members of the engineers
gangs. Steam is kept up in the govern
ment departmental buildings all the year
round. The elevators and the dynamo en-
gines have Pot to go in summer as we'll as
In winter. and there must always be suffi-
cient steam pressure to work the pumps
in case of fire. Each department has two
engineers. one a chief and the other an as
sistant, and from seven to a dozen firemen
Stocking lis being done In the boiler rooms
day and night by these firemen. and, when
the buildings are deserted. the clink of their
shovels is company for the night watchmen.
The citizen who feels aggrieved over the
consumption at his hon. OF couple OF
tons of coal a month can take comfort
in the fact that about 2. 800 tons are burned
during a single winter in the furnaces of
the Interior Department-enough to propel
first-class modern cruiser of the new
navy a distance of 1900 miles. Thou
sands of cords of wood are consumed be-
sides in the fireplaces In government de-
partments every year.
The charwomen turn up again t~their
respective departments at Z O'Clock in the
morning to do the busting. the dust being
given twelve hours to settle. They stand
around waiting for the early-coming detail
of male laborers to build the fires in the
fireplaces and to renew the fuel supplies
of the rooms before giving the final clean
ing touches.
The Ice and Towel Men.
The department icemen's wagons rumble
up before the buildings in the neighbor-
hood of o'clock and spend about half an
hour carrying tons of fee into the depart
ment refrigerators. Then come the towel
men. Each government department is fur
nished with about 1,000 clean towels every
day. The contracts for washing them are
given out to contractors making the highest
bids for the work. About O'Clock the milk
and provision wagons of the purveyors to
the people running the lunch rooms in the
departments begin to arrive.
The messengers of the cabinet officers and
high officials turn up as a rule about half
an hour before the official day begins. 1t Is
their business to renew pens in penholders.
ink in ink wells. blotting pads on desks. to
see that the steam is turned on or that the
fires in the CRATES are ablaze. and to make
the final preparations for the comfort Of
the occupants OF the rooms.
Then the vanguard of the army of clerks
begins to arrive. and the work of making
work for the charwomen and laborers be-
gins all over again.