Evening star., 1897-04-17


did not tower a trife over him: towering
over him you perceive a baby-pink spot
the size OF tea saucer on the crown ,of
his head. hemmed in by a thick circlet of
same size Senator Mason's-an ample
eight; and his cream-cofored, ;dull-g glazed >
turnover collars are probably Just ten
sizes larger. His mustafhe; perfectly
white. Is OF the Olney-Lamont type; that
Is to say. it is bristling. chopped off and:
pugnacious. As a matter of fact, Mr..
Long Is perfect picture of pugnacity in
repose; but when he begins to talk in a
aeep oasso profundo voice. unharshened by
lifetime of inhalation Of Boston east
winds-When he begins to talk in his char
acteristic mild. finished fashion, using a
SILVER paper-cutter as kind of baton, Sc
iectlng ms words with the precision Of
New England housewife organizing her in
ereolents for Christmas pudding en-
pioying the rounded English that seems
TO nave passed with the essay writers. and
occasionally reiapsing into the Bostonese
Drogue (as, for instance lore" for flaw'O
MS visitor is apt to mentally decide, il he
knows his land-lubber's nautical lexicon
mat Secretary Long is in reality .,as mild
anneIeo man as ever slit a weazand or
scuttled ship"
Always Well Dressed.
Ifis cabinet of President McKinley's is
certainly the bes.-drcssad cabinet that has
been in Washington for many years. and
Secretary Long is fine exponent of the
fact His garments look as ie ne had the
respect of his tailoc. which is as important
as the respect of a whcle constituency;
they look as IT thsy were manufactured
for Mr.. Long and FOR no one else Crrying
cutaWays. full-skirted frocks, all Of black
MI. Lorg must have III all known textures
Tor he does not often appear at his office
IN the tunic of the day before. He has a
discerning eye in the selection of cravats,
ana KNOWS how to tie them deftly He
must nave couple Of cushions full OF
scarf pins. for Mr.. Finney. his private sec
retary, a critic N snch matters, has only
seen each of Mr.. Longs stick pins 1rce.
Finally, Secretary Long is said to nave
larger store of unique link cuff buttons
ttan any other American public man, ex-
Difficult to See.
So much for the outer man. The inner
Secretary has already devised some meth
eds that bear the stamp of inspiration.
First and foremost. ne Is Il :lisposer of
the multitude. Alone of nearly all the
new members of the cabinet. Mr. Long is
not imposed upon by his visitors; he gra-
ciOusly declines to permit himself to he
imposed upon. Other cabinet ministers are
forced. by their lack of Inv sntion, to lend
their ears to a perpetual chronicling of
greater or smaller beer. lay in and day
out: whereas Mr.. Long, quite as much
visited any of the others, IS enabled to
regard the tide of visitors IS only an in
cident of his official day. sa
He gives singular audience to very few:
except to his personal friends he is hardly
to be seen alone by any but representa-
t1veS in the two houses of Congress and
the officials of his department. Instead
ne works away at his desk until there Is
an accumulation of visitors lining every
couch and chair scattered around the vast
reception room contiguous to his office
and when Mr.. Finney, his secretary, indi-
Gates that there are no more seats in the
reception room for newcomers, Secretary
Long. with the apparent cheerfulness of a
man going to game OF ball, passes into
the reception room. s-- II
A Good Crowd Handler
Then ensues as artistic and effectual
process Of throng-scattering as has been
seen II Washington executive depart
ment since the long past days of former
war Secretary. who used to scare his Wis
itors out of his Office. Mr.. Long does not
scare his visitors out. He watts them out.
hey all seem to depart in such high state
OF pleasure, and bowling SO effusively and
obviously, that many of them, as they
navigate toward the exit, bump into chairs
and desks and couches and other visitors
and retire In very confusion of joy Yet
the Secretary rarely Gevotes more than
thirty seconds 10 each man-which deenens
the mystery oe the thing. He inclines mis-
ear TO none; he stands I'D right straight
with his hands behind his back after he
has shaken hands; and he has not been
Duttonholed once since he has been in this
town.
Hard to ButtOnhoIe.
1t is delightful to watch his conduct when
ne Is just on the point of being button
holed by a visitor-it would go well in a
klnetoscope. The visitor, talking at
speed that would wear out a Senate stem
osrapher, suddenly reaches out a hand af-
fectlonately in the direction of Mr.. Longs
coat lapel: Mr.. Longs countenance almost
iinperceptibiy contracts. and he takes two
quick siX-inch steps to the rear. the Wis
itor's hand clutches the intangible air and
for second the word '.foiled'' is placarded
On his surprised face; the Secretary's couo-
tenahce relaxes and eXDands-and it is all
over, IL Is SO exquisitely done that the
Wouiu-De Duttonholer is not made to feel
abashed, and before he quite realizes il he
mas been waited out into the dark corri-.
dor colored with the hectic flush of han
plness, without himself exactly knowing
why. o
Touring the Reception Room.
Thus the Secretary of the Navy tours his
reception room, travelling impartlalIy
around the four ends Of 1t, ignoring pre-
cedence. On mis- tours his private secretary
Is never more than three feet away, and he
Is constantly called into the Secretary's
SohAcfcHCe Win Individual yiS-
itors to jot down a note or so. Mr. Long
accompanies each of his visitors to the
door he does not stroll with them to the
door. but travels along little ahead of
them at pretty fair clip; so there is no
possibility of their stopping few times
on the way to recall and say forgotten
things. When the Secretary starts toward
the door. they perceive that their speech
has been made, and begin their bowing At
the door Mr.. Long suddenly halts. steps to
one side. makes quite an elaborate bow of
good will himself. and the next instant he
s back to the place Of the visitor who oc-
cupies the seat next to that of the man
who has just been waited out. And in
about ten minutes after he has entered the
room. he has cleared 1t completely. More
over, he has given his visitors just as much
satisfaction az II he had spent his entire
day in receiving them individually in his
inner of11ce-for many visitors depart from
the inner Offices of some of the cabinet min
listers with gloom and disappointment pic
tured all over them.
This Is a program that Ii gone through
with about four times each day; so that
the average amount Of Secretary Longs
m hat Ia .cadr hryy