The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-02
[vITE HOUSE ON NEW YEARS.
rsrNTs THE MOST BRILl1 AMI
n,cTURE IN THE COUNTRH

,...most Leaders OF Public Life
,r,, TAX Payer Exercises His Right
Look over the Property OF
,,.;cb He Feels He Is Part Owner
mo british Ambassador Always
cuts Il Wide Swath.
Washington, Jan. 1.-President Cleve-
and his wife are to be congratulated
one thing-that they have played
rn-bandle to the public for the last
ue on New Years day. Nowhere else
Ed the United States is the first of the
made so much of as in Washington
here. in official circles it is the greatest
all the brilliant events of the season.
nee time out of mind the celebration
he hardly varied a hairs breadth, except
& the personnel of the participants, as
H. administration after another has had
little day and wheeled into line among
he things that were. BY a. m. on Jan.
the thoroughfares in the vicinity of the
bite house assume an air of extraordi-
ary fesuvity. Strains of martial music
re in the air; the gllttering uniforms
our naval and military Of
4cers. the gorgeous decorations
h the diplomats, the diamonds and mag
ffdcent dresses of the ladies in their car
/ riages, mingle with the dress suits of
civilians and the shabby best of the hoi
toloi Helmeted guardians of the peace
always swarming around the executive
mansion like flies around a molasses bar
fel and unusually thick during the Cleve-
and regime-are thicker than ever, about
ene policeman, mounted or on foot, to
livery score of private individuals And
E heir hands are full as the day advances
keeping the surging crowd off the street
Z ar tracks and from under the wheels of
marriages and the feet of horses in the
PROFESSIONS; looking out for cranks with
f concealed weapons and fancied missions
10 kill, and maintaining something like
order in the ranks of hoi polloi-marshal-
ii in double lines from the white house
ate away down Pennsylvania avenue to
4he war department and thence for a block
br two, impatiently awaiting their turn TO
get into the mansion. The Presidents
bubble reception on the first of January
a survival of the old-time southern
ustom of receiving on New Years day;
came in with the Washingtons, and is
pot likely to go out, whatever tickle fash
Jon may decree elsewhere. 1t serves too
nany useful purposes and savors too
3nuch of the very spirit of repubicanism
20 be ever given up. Not only does it af-
ord opportunity for the representatives
Eof all the civilized nations of the earth
o pay their formal respects to Uncle Sam
Elel and the heads of various branches
of our own government-legislativ
Judicial and military, to meet socially in
4the house of their executive chief-but it
gives the humble citizen a chance to view
the interior holy of holes of the white
house in all its glory, to shake hands on
friendly footing with the President and
his wife, to get glimpse of the top-most
notch OF upper-tendom in its most stun
#ning attire, and best of all, the feeling
#Of a proprietary interest in the whole
concern. The belief is born in the blood
land bred in the bone" of the citizen afore-
said that the government property is his
property-that his money, in the form of
taxes, has helped to build and pay for the
capitol and the executive mansion and the
department buildings; and that even the
%people whom his votes have elected to run
the machine temporarily, belong in a
measure to him; hence who has better
right to look the property over occasional
"! For this reason all the pub
lie buildings are open, wholly or
in part every day in the week to whoever
cares to ramble through them, and guides
are provided at government expense to ex-
hibit without charge to all Corners the pub
lie portion of the white house, and as much
OF interest in the treasury vaults, the bu-
reau of engraving and printing, etc. as
can be thrown open without seriously in
terferng with work going on. But the
great American public demands also to
share in the personal glories of these high
places. Therefore, at least two occasions
are created in each years social season
when all the world is welcome to the ma
TONS house, where the first lady of the
land and the proudest danes of her court
must stand on exhibition like wax figures
IN the Eden musee; when millionaires and
Dootbiacks, society queens and colored
Wash-ladies" meet on a common level,
ana shake the engloved hands of the Pres
ident and his wife. These two much-priz-
ed occasions are on New Years day and
the one evening official reception to the
public which the President gives toward
the close Of each winter AT both of them
the wash-lady and bootblack element is
not altogether lacking; but, to the credit
OF all concerned be it recorded that the
historic mansion is just as carefully dec
n GRATED with the choicest products of the
conservatives, and the receiving ladies
wear as gracious manners and ravishing
lCliettes as when posing at the most eX-
elusive functions" The New Years re-
certon is the most largely attended and
n by far the most interesting of the two
as most sharply contrasting the lights
ana shades Of American society The
white house parlors are shut off from 1.-THE
8 garish light of day." and the electric suns
4 send their soft glow over exquisite floral
NccoIdJOnS, magnificent hanglngS, rich
4 upholstery and beautifully dressed women.
IN the great east room the famous crys-
tai chandeliers are hung with ropes of smi-
lax, the mantels under the long mirrors
h2nked with flowers, the corners and win
COWS screened with tall palms The red
ana blue parlors are similarly decked and
Rafnished-cut flowers, ported plants and
ornamental foliage everywhere; and the
grand inner corridor extending nearly the
length of the mansion, facing the parlors.
mas tree-ferns and azaleas in bloom group
ed between it's statuary and beneath the
portraits of the beauties and Statesmen
oil other days In the outer corridor the
relocated, white-trousered marine band
are stationed. to render their choicest Sc
leetons throughout the day. One of the
long windows of an ante-room is converted
INTO door pro tenn to facilitate egress.
carpets are spread from the innermost
door to the outermost edges of the drive
way steps, to protect the trains and Slip
pers or callers not of hoi polloi, and the
Vesubule is lined with liveried servants