Evening star., 1896-12-12

eating. what is one mans meat is another
mans poison. remarked the keeper Of
store in the extreme northern part of the
city Thus. bad weather during the week
prior to Christmas means a heavy business
with me and others situated like me- while
pleasant weather means our misfortune.
If the weather is good, the people all go
down town to the big stores and make their
purchases, and We get severely left. On the
other hand. if the weather is bad the chill
dren can't get down town and the grown
folks won't and the result is they make
their purchases from us. know Of several
outlying storekeepers who failed last year
simply on account of the weather..
There Is hardly any observance now OF
what was time Fonored custom once in
the matter of congressional calls said an
old employe of the Senate. 'On the first
day OF every session every Senator sent
his personal card TO every other Senator
as we'll as 10 the Representatives of mis-
own state. to the members of the caoilet,
the Supreme Court and the heads of the
army and navy So also Representatives
sent their cards to every other Repres enta-
tive and to the Sena tors from their own
state In this way they indicated that they
We're located here and were ready to re-
ceive callers The GUS tom as far as gen
eraI observance is concerned, died out
about ten or fifteen years ago, and prop
ably would have died out sooner had it
not been for the persistent efforts of the
late Maj. Ben: Perley Poore, long con-
nected with the Senate. who did all he
could 10 have 1t kept up. After he passed
away the custom died out, though probably
a half dozen of the older Senators and
Representatives remembered and observed
it on Monday last.
Senators and SenatoTs-eiect are having
a busy time these days looking after de-
srable seats for the next session, be it
regular a special session." remarked one
of the Senate clerks. Already all of the
best seats have been spoken for. Original
ly and for many years everything in the
matter of seats in the Senate chamber was
attended TO by the late Capt. Isaac Bas-
sett. Whatever he said was law. and there
was no appeal from his selection. He
worked on the Elan first come first served,
and in an experience OF over twenty years
| never heard any very loud gTowl over
what he did. On the House side of the
Capitol, as is generally known. seats are
drawn by lot the opening day Of every
new Congress
The Senate being a continuing body no
such an arrangement can be made. AT
present all matters relating TO seats in the
Senate are in direct charge of the sergeant
alarms and have been so since the death
of Capt. Bassett. The public have but lit
tie idea of the efforts made by Senator'S
TO get the most desirable seats. Some
years ago Senator Plumb of Kansas lied
suddenly one sunday morning in his rooms
en- 18th street. In less than two hours TWO
Senators had personally called on Capt.
Bassett and applied for his seat. and TWO
others had sent notes asking for II. I
Plumb seat. which was the corner seat OF
the rear rcw on the republican side of the
chamber on the center aisle was a very de-
srabe seat. and, of course, was much in
demand"
.'Banque;S and big dinners. public and
private. do not cost as much as is generally
supposed" said a welI-known caterer
w hile many so away from banquet and
exazgerate as to what they ate and drank
and go into great detail as to its elegance
and sumptuousness. those who had charge
q getting it up know that the expense was
by no means as large as some may have
honestly supposed it to be. 1t is customary
for some persons to speak of champagne
flowing as freely as water / assure you
this is not so. and 1 can add that after
long experience in managing Washington
banquets have rarely seen an immodera,e
us. of wines.
The handsomest kind of a banquet is
furnished all the way from 81 to S6 per
plate. which includes three wines, generally
a sauterne. a claret and champagne at the
close This pays the bill for all the ordinary
table decorations. including the necessary
amount of flowers. OF course. now and
then there is a great display of flowers and
| have known of $500 worth of roses alone
being used at banquet, but this has been
very rare. In private houses the most ele-
CANT dinners are furnished for 81 per plate
which also includes the wines and very
elaborate flowers When there are fifty or
more at banquet the plate price is very
much reduced.
&* x. *x
I had an experience a few days ago"
said the keeper of confectionery store, of
a rather novel character. Among my call
ers was drummer who handled excIu-
sively penny goods: that is. goods sold to us
50 that We can afford to sell them at retail
for penny each. His line included over
thirty novelties in the way of boxed goods
candles, popcorns and confections, some of
which contained prize In each package.
The prizes were not exactly gold watches.
sets of silverware and things of that kind
but they were novel prizes and Of a char
a,;sr that is appreciated by the little ones
VINO spend their penny at the corner store
Besides this. he had a line OF over forty
toys that retail for penny. miniature
dolls. doll furniture, whistles horns guns
suppiejacks. an X-ray apparatus and Other
thoroughly up-to-date goods His display
surpassed anything that ] had ever before
witnessed in my line, being interesting as o
snow. laying aside all other considerations
lie represented a concern that has n nIs7.
amounting to over S1O0Ot0 and which man
ufactures and handles penny goods ex-
ciusiyely.
< x
Washington Is very conservative usually
in the matter of styles, and has chung for
long time to the fancy for dressing the
youthful scions of its houses IA la marine
but the sailor boys are doomed. Ever since
the coronation of the cZar, which was wit
messed by so many Americans the Russian
Graz" has been spreading over the land
Even the children have caught the infec-
tion. AMI the streets swarm with young
''mouiks attired in the blouse of the Rus
sian peasant coat fastening at the left
shoulder. girdled by leather belt and
reaching 10 the knees. where 1t is met by
high Russian tan boots
With this costume. to be absolutely cor
rect, the hair must be cut OF an eIual
length all around the head something after
the manner of the old bowl cut, and this is
sIrmOunted by n fiat cap Ornamented at
one side by a stiff quill. all of which is
very fetching on fetching child. but hone
less on a mediocre one. OF course every
uother thinks her boys belong to the
former class, so the Russian invasion pro-
crosses.