Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-04

gagged in with some power or other. The
tradition Is not exactly clear on that head.
ana the writer's informant Is no longer
among the living However 1t may be. the
mantel aforesaid is there, and a piece Of
handsomely carved marble; II is now yellow
with age and discolored by heat. The or
nament was sent to this country from
Spain to be presented to Mr.. Clay, who
Tor OBVIOUS reasons, could not accept it,
For many years 1t found a Judgment In a
storage room. and finally it was sent to
Sfoan's where 1t was knocked down to the
highest bidder. Mr.. Hindman then a MEM
Der of Congress from Arkansas. and later
a general in the confederate army. was the
purchaser He caused 1t to be placed in
the committee room in the Capitol, and
there 1t remains to this day.
Some Diplomatic Furniture,
In Grants time there was a quartet of
beauties who rendered society at the ma
tional capital exceptionally brilliant They
were Nine. Catacazy. wife of the Russian
minister; Nine. Garcia, wife of the Portu-
guese minister; Kate Chase daughter of
the chief justice, and Mrs Williams, wife
or the Attorney General Nine. CatacaZy's
beauty had delighted both hemispheres
and 1t was said that to her seductive fas-
clnations Russia owed more than one dip
lomatic triumph. However this may be-
certain 1t was that Russia interposed to de-
Feat the treaty of Washington, by the
terms of which the Alabama claims were
held It's elaboration and adjudicated at
Geneva. Society Is an adjunct of iiplo-
macy, or diplomacy Is an adjunct of So
ciety, 1t Is not exactly determined which,
one finger into the arbitration pie the
High Old Joints were cooking. and it
was said that Nine. Catacazy plunged the
whole of both her shapely hands into it.
and up to and including her plump and
dimpled elbows. Anyhow. Gen. Grants ad-
ministration iHtimated to the car that
Catacazy was getting to be persona non
grata, and soon after Catacazy and his
beauteous spouse were recalled. OF course,
they could not take all their household
plumber with them, and most of It was sold
at fabulous prices to those Of our people
who dearly loved lord.
A Rejected Bedstead.
But we won't go the Chinese, dearly as
we love the -"Rooshians, the Prooshians
and the Itallyians." That's as fiat as was
Falstaff's determination not to march his
contingent through Coventry. Not a great
while ago the Chinese legation pulled up
stakes at Dupont Circle and moved over to
Mt Pleasant, where the new quarters were
sumptuousiy furnished and fitted regard
less of expense by an upholsterer from
New York The old belongings that had
done service so long at Castle Stewart, in
GLIDING that never-to- be- forgotten occ aston
of the pis-feedngs that created such a stir
about two lustrums ago, were exposed to
auction sale. There was an enormous bed
stead of solid mahogany that weighed little
less than ton. Dixon H. Lewis. Hum
phrey Marshall and Tom Reed, all three
so far from filling il, would have left room
enough fer Grover Cleveland. One old lady
with severe Countcnance, over which good
housekeeper" was written in every dialect
of dozen different languages, gave ii a
most critical inspection and then solilo-
quized: IF there is a bedbug in there"
touching a place in the carving with the
ferrule of her parasol, lit would require
the United States army, and navy, too, 10
dislodge him. There was a reserve bid of
800 for the bedstead which cost China
81 900, but there was no advance on ii and
no sale. at least not on that bid.
The above are only a few, very few. of
the articles of virtu sold here that have
American association. There have been
numberless sales Of articles collected here,
and associated with great or notorious for
eignerS
It's Imagination that raises man above
the brute creation, ina gination at once The
glory and bane of mankind, so necessary to
our grandeur, so destructive of our happi-
ness. o. o. STEALEY.