The record-union., 1897-06-10

leaving a dozen importunate individ-
uals who have been hoping to get the
ear of the Presidents factotun if only
Tor a moment Instantly four report
ers, who had been half doing at a table
near the window, wake up, and one of
them hastens to make inquiries as to
the identity of the parsonage whom Mr..
Porter has bestowed such exceptional
attention upon. His name having been
ascertained, the newspaper men wait
until he comes out, and then tackle
him on his way down stairs for infor-
nation as to the purpose of his visit
and the subject matter of his converse
ton with the President
Though the anteroom is so crowded
there is no conversation worth men
tioning. The people in it wear uni
form air of melancholy, as if they
We're attending a funeral. But OF a sud
den there is a sound of subdued chat
ering from the direction of the stair
case. and in walks the vanguard of a
regular procession of young ladies.
They are pretty girls, nearly all of an
age, and at their head is a grave-look
ing woman with spectacles. This is a
boarding school from Virginia, which
had a special engagement with Major
Mckinley granted in advance by tele-
graph. Think of having an engage
ment with an entire young ladies'
boarding school! But Mrs. Mckinley
has confidence in her husband.
To the disgust of the chronic waits
the boarding school obtains almost i'm
mediate admittance, filing two by two
through the Secretary's office into the
Presidents room. Major Mckinley
gives each of the girls a hand-shake,
and they pass out through another door
into the anteroom and toward the
stairs. 1t is worth mentioning, by the
way, that a Presidential hand-shake is
now offered by companies organizing
tours" as an incidental inducement
with every trip to washington. For eX-
ample, tours for "schoolmarms' and
others are arranged in Boston, guaran-
teeing visit to the nations capital and
return, with an excursion to Mount
Vernon, hotel bills paid, and shake OF
the Executives paw thrown in.
1t is noticeable that the various doors
opening into the Presidents office are
not locked, and often since the arrival
of warm weather they are wide open
SO that from the anteroom one may
catch glimpses of the Major at work OF
course, nobody would venture to in
trude upon him without permission;
but the circumstance is none the less
! striking as cOntraSted with the custom
during the Cleveland regime, when the
door opening into the anteroom was
never unlocked, and an armed guard
stood by the entrance through the Cab
met room. At the period of the Coxey
invasion two men, armed to the teeth
were constantly on the watch outside
these doors. Apparently Major McKin-
ley wants it to be understood that he
| does not suffer from chronic fear OF
assassination.
If there is a man in the United States
as hard worked as Major Mckinley. il
| is Secretary Porter. Without taking as
much pains to please the newspaper
men as did his predecessor, Mr.. Thur
Der, he is much more successful in ac-
complishing that end. He has earned
their respect, and they are glad to obey
his sole requirement, that they shall not
| quote him as a source of information
The tax on the good humor of an off,
! cial III his position is extraordinary
Female applicants for favors are apt tC
be particularly annoying, demanding
unreasonable things. For example, a
woman yesterday insisted on seeing the
President for the purpose of asking him
to write a letter to Mr.. Spofford, de-
handing a place for her in the new Lii
brary of Congress. She was a stranger
| but she could see no reason why tri-
| fling request like that should not be
granted .-Washington Correspondence
] St Louis GlObe-Democrat