Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-05-28
A DAY IN MRS. cLEveLAND's LIFE.
How the First Lady In the Land spends
Her Tina

SO large Is the volume of material which
comes with each mail from north, south,
cast and west, and well addressed to Mrs,
Cleveland, that II has been found necessary
to divide into classes those letters w+rch
appear deserving of any notice whatever
says larpers Bazaar. First in the cate
CORY comes the requests for charity in
numerous forms. Appeals for money are
abundant of course. Next comes calls Tor
food ond clothing. Then comes demands
that she will make an apron for Il fair in
Podunk, or dress a doll for church cN-
hibiien at Smthville. Perhaps the fun
NEST of the begging letters are those which
crave thu gift of a baby carriage; they
are usually accompanied by "a clipping or
copied quotation from an obscure local
newspaper, in which an imaginative con-
tributOr describes the Clcvclan1s as re-
ceiving carload of little carriages as
presents from inventors and manufacture
crs all over the country directly after the
birth of each child. As matter of fact
no such presents have eyer como to them;
but the fancy of the average Washington
lettcr-writcr runs riot on OCCASIONS and
represents as a real happening what
might have occurred if The whole guild
of American carriage makers had let
themselves loose in search of a great adj
vcrtiscmcnt.
A second class of letters arc those in
which Mrs. cleveland is bcsought to use
her influence with tho President TO procure
offices or other political favors for sume-
body In whom the writer's are interested.
Even tn" wives Of prominent Congress
men have been known to bespcall in this
way the Interference Of the President to
obtain coveted committee assignments
for their husbands in one or the other leg
islatVc chamber.
10 the third class belong letters asking
the use Of Mrs. Ciovclaud's name as "A pat
roncss for some enterprise. as II subscriber
for n book, or as subject OF u dedicatory
paragraph
In fourth class are grouped the con-
conventional engraved invitations to take
part in some fcstivity-a wedding, q re-
ccption, christening, a birthday party,
the anniversary of Il society, the laying
of a corner stone.
Tho almost broken rule in all these
cases is for one OF tho executive clerks
to write sterotypcd form of an answer,
consisting of Il polite ackuow edgomcnt
and u deCllnation. Here and there a mis-
sive will have some distinctive feature
which causes 1t TO be set apart from the
rest and brought to Mrs Cleveland's no
tcc when she rctircs from the breakfast
room and seats herself at her desk. \ re-
quest that Shc will allow herself TO be
named as godmothcr for some tudling
genius of a new generation is never re.
fused, and an autograph is given whore
the circumstances warrant tho belief tina,
the courtesy VIII he abused, and Oh rare
very rarc-occasions a photograph is add
ed. Now and then. at long intervals, one
of the other requests Receives q favorable
response; but when the recipient is un-
gracious enough to share the lows of his
success with the public, the result Is such
a deiurc Of appeals and demands from
chronic mcdicants that tho kindly feeling
which prompted the experiment is turncu
to disgust, ana the lesson costs the next
thousand Supplicants q prompt denial oil
their prayers.
As an example OF rho use TO which oyer
/ the dcclination of an invitation may y,
put single instance may bc cited From
/ Il social climber of the most sclf-obtrusiv,
ana offensive type. who had been eagerly
/ bent for years on obtaining some persona
/ recognition from the Presidents family
came one day card for the wedding re-
c"ption of his daughter. Tho Sterotype(
response was sent from one OF the clerks
/ expressing the regret Of the President ant
I Mrs Cleveland that they would he Iinabl,
/ 10 attend. The morning papers on the dan
| Following the affair contained "A full ac
count Of all that took place, ending witt
n list of distinguished guests; and tn,
recorded procession of generals and com
/ modores and Judges wound UP with tn,
! announcement that president and Mrs
/ CLEVELAND were to have honorcd the oc
cision with their presence. but at the las
| moment were unavoidably prevented an,
obliged to send their regrets"