Evening star., 1896-12-26

dampening, forlorn effect of a regimental
barracks. the boisterous, skylarking occu-
pants Of which are in the field. A football
on the tiled or stone floor has the rever-
beration of a distant hollow explosion. The
tick of the big hall clocks sounds ominous
warnful Of the swift passage and the with
ering touch Of Time, with a capital 7. The
portraits in the secretaries Offices cf old
gentlemen with fobs, garrcte-lke stocks
and bear's-greased hair brushed forward
of their ears, look inscruta5le and sinister
and rake up memories of that gloomy line
THE path Of glory leads but to the grave"
The occasional banging of a storm door
sounds like the explosion of thirteen-inch
rifle under copper sheath. The ceaseless
humping of steam and water pumps down
In the engineers department II the base
ment, never noticed during the hours of
the day, seems big with meaning. The tur-
mcil Of the outside world only penetrates
the deserted government department build
ing as the far-off murmuring Of lulled
sea. A human voice, pitched no matter how
low, sounds resonantly oratorical mau-
soleum on vast scale. a forsaken modern
Parthenon, labyrinthine catacombs sans
skeletons, the interior Of q Rameses-
wrought pyramid-an emptied depart
mental building suggests any and all of
these things.
For three hours however, after a depart-
ment's force of employees has departed the
building is lively enough. From 4 until Z
II Is IN the possession Of the charwomen
and laborers. Each department building is
In charge of a superintendent and a Gus
tod1an. More than a million of dollars is
spent every year in order hat the govern
ment men departments of Washington may be
kept clean. OF late years the members of
the cleaning forces Of the departments
have been compelled to work harder than
should be necessary, according to the state
ments Oh some OF the departmental build
ing superintendentS, on account of the
growing practice of putting men and wo-
men whose names are listed on the labor
ers rolls at clerical work, which materially
decreases the size Of the scrubbing and
securing brigades.
The Force of CharwOmen.
Department buildings of the size of the
war, state and ravy. and treasury edifices
employ from 15 to 100 charwomen and from
LOU 10 2oo laborers as permanent cleaning
forces. The laborers potter around at va
rious specific tasks and chores during the
regular office hours of the government day.
Inc charwomen report for duty in the
easements of the department buildings at
ten minutes to 4. They are about evenly
divided as to color, and all seem partial to
Paisley shawls. The white charwomen are
IN the main widows with large families of
children. The charwomen work hard for
their small salaries.
Assembled a few minutes before 4 in the
tool rooms and material rooms, the char
women seize the implements necessary for
the performance of the work ahead of
them, and silently stand by, like a bat
tallion of soldiers at a parade rest, for the
emptying of the building, for they are not
permitted to put broom or a swab to a
floor until the last clerk has left the build
ing, providing there are no clerks working
over time. When the building is entirely
disgorged of its day-working force there
begins sweeping and a sprinkling and
scrubbing and a securing. The charwomen
get down on their knees on the floors and
scrub and rinse and dry them in the old
fashioned way with navy hand swabs, and
'house maids knee" which most readers
of Three Men in Boat" fancied a purely
fictitious ailment, is common among char
women. Each charwoman has about 100
by 20 feet Of tiling stone to scrub, and
each carries a sort OF portable priedieu to
serve as knee pad. The charwOrnen wear
out over a hundred thousand Of the hand
made swabs Of string every year, and they
use up tons of soap.
MOuntains of Cuspidors.
A dozen Of the charwomen of the treas
ury are regularly detailed to attend to the
spittoons. There are over 5000 spittoons
scattered over the building, and the Job of
rendering them presentable after days
use constitutes no minor part of the char
woman's work. 1t looks odd to see q row
OF cuspidors twenty feet long and six feet
high piled up ready for distribution after
they have been cleaned.
Another detail OF the force attends to
the sweeping In the carpeted rooms. There
is very little sweeping with hand Jrooms.
for the purpose by the proprietoIs Of the
department lunch rooms. are used. The
patent carpet sweeper b an implement
bought by the thousand every year by the