The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-10

the top of this she put porcelain tiles
and walled all the rooms of the base
ment as high as your shoulder with the
same material. The White house is
now lighted with electric lights The
chandeliers have electric globes and
the lights are kept burning in the base
ment and in most Of the rooms of the
building all night long. The electric
plant cost $4,000, and this did not in
clude the dynamo, for the electricity
is brought to the White house through
an underground cable from the state
department engine rooms, where it is
generated.
NEW CHINA.
I think it was Martin Van Buren, who
was denounced all over the country
for buying a set of gold spoons for the
White house. The new china which
has been recently bought is worth al
most it's weight in gold I know moth
ing about the late purchases of Mrs
Cleveland, for the president is very
secretive as to his domestic matters
But there is a new set of cut glass
in the cupboards of the executive man
sion which cost $1,973, and 1 happen
to know that Mrs. Harrison sent one
order to Europe for twenty-four dozen
china plates and five dozen coffee cups
of a special design. Congress allows
each president something like SAC, 900
q year and more. to run the White
house, and a large part of this goes
into new furniture and dishes. The
linen costs a small fortune. The table
cloths are Of the finest damask, and
the napkins used at the state dinners
are as big as a baby's bed quilt.
They shine like silk, and they are so
heavy that it takes some time for a
drop Of wine to soak through them.
Mrs. Mckinley will probably buy a
lot of new linen when she comes in
and one Of her pleasures may be the
shopping which she can do at the
government expense.
NEW CARPETS
New carpets are bought about every
six wears, and, though the ones which
r found on the different parlors are
good. she will probably have a chance
to select new ones. [ don't believe
she will care to redecorate the rooms
When the blue room was last fixed up
the artists received more than S., 900
for the job Think Of it! Five thou
sand dollars on one room Isn't it aw-
full. Yes, but the walls Of the blue
room look far different now than they
did when Andrew Jackson's callers
trampped around within them sampling
the big cheese which one Of his admit
ing constituents sent him, or at the
reception which he gave on the day of
his Inauguration when buckets of or
ange punch were given out in each
room and both walls and carpets
ruined. The walls Of the blue room
are now padded and draped with silk
as fine as that of the ball dresses Of
the ladies who will come here to shake
hands with President Mckinley. The
silk is of the most delicate blue, and
it is interviewer with silver It is the
same with the red ROOM which is also
hung with silk and whose furniture
has been designed and cushioned to
match The carpets Of all the ground
floor parlors are fine. That on the east
room is so soft that your foot sinks
into it as though it were a bed of moss.
It takes also 500 yards of carpet to
cover the floor, and the one now tackled
down cost $780, 1t takes more than
1000 yards to- carpet the White house
parlors and dining rooms, and the car
pets everywhere match the furniture
and hangingS.
GOOD ENOUGH.
Of late it has become the fashion to-
sheer at the White house 1t is said
to be not good enough for the president
and that we ought to build great pal
ace for our rulers. The truth is our
presidents, as a rule, have never had
anything so good before they came 20
the White house. The most Of them at
the beginning of their lives were fed
on hog and hominy. Cleveland had
probably none too much to eat when
his father was poor parson, and the