The daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1892-1897, 1897-05-06
THE WHITE HOUSE.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE OFFICIAL
QUARTERS OF THE EXECUTIVE.

q and duties of the president, Ia the
hrse OF which he says:
. At 10 o'clock a hardly discernible sign
against the glass of the, barrier an
nounces TO the citizen who has arrived
under the grand portal that the execu-
tive mansion is 'topen" to visitors. At
2 O'Clock the sign is changed to "clos-
ed. . The doorkeepers swing the doors
open TO everybody. Within the large
Sestibnle nothing is seen which iHdi-
Gates the arrangement and purposes OF
the different parts of the mansion 1t
was not always SO, for originally the
now concealed corridor, or middle hall,
with the staircase On the right, was a
part of the entrance hall. Now the
spaces between the middle columns are
closed with colored glass partitions, and
the vestibule is simply large, square
room pleasant to get out Of
No way appears TO open TO the state
apartments In the center or to the west
wing, which is devoted TO the private
apartments. Yet glass doors are there
though as imperceptible to the stranger
as swinging panel To the left there
is a door which is always open. 1t adj
mits to a small hall, across which sim
liar door is the side entrance TO the
great east room. About this splendid
room, comprising the whole east end Of
the mansion, the visitor may wander at
will before the portraits or enjoy from
the windows the beauty Of the treasury
building to the east or the impressive
landscape to the south, including the
towering shaft Of the Washington mon
ument and beyond the ever charming
Potomac, spreading with enlarging
curves toward Mount Vernon. nd-iiII
the private garden under the>S fpdows
he may chance 70 see a RierTy band Of
little ones
From the small hall between the YES
tibuie and the east room a stairway as
cends toward the medal lire of the
building to a wide middle hall, ON each
eide of which are the Offices OF the pres
ident The arrangement is simple, and
In the floor plan covers the space occu-
pied below by the east room and the
green room. the latter being the coun-
terpart Of the small hall with the public
stairway just mentioned. AT the head
IF these stairs, over the Neen room, is
the cabinet room, which us the first
apartment In the south side Of the hall,
a jog of two steps, at the private door
into the presidents room, marking the
raised ceiling of the east room below.
The president reaches his Office through
the cabinet room, entering the latter
from the library, which corresponds on
the second floor with the blue room OF
the state apartments. President Arthur
indeed used the library as hissoffice and
the cabinet chamber for an anteroom,
while his private secretary was donli-
eiled IN the traditional Office Of the pres
ident. During his nTst term 7s4r Cleve-
land preserved the same arrangement.
But General Harrison went back to the
office hallowed by Lducoln's occupancy,
and Mr. Cleveland, ON his return, found
the arrangement so satisfactory that he
continued 1t.
Beyond the presidents large, square
Office is the corner room where Private
Secretary Thurbar IS always either
wrestling with the details of executive
business or standing with his shoulde,
braeed against the crowd struggling &c
see the president 1t is a marrow apart
nont and might be called appropriately
the hall of the disappointed, - the sug
gestion being emphasized by portrait:
Of the greatest Of presidential sSpirants
Clay and Webster, to which Mr. Thurbel
ADDED, as his private property, an en-
craving OF the closest contestant for the
Office, Governor Tiiden.
On the north side CT the hall there
are two rooms which correspond to thos'
en- the south side just described, th'
small one being occupied by Mr.. o. L
Pruden, the assistant secretary since Gen
eral Grants time and the custodian O
the Office hooks as well as OF the traGi
lions which govern the public socia
routine Of the executive mansion u
his room sits the telegraph clerk az Ii
instrument. and by the window is tel
ephone, which saves a great amount o
messenger service between Tire presiden
and the departments. Occasionally /
congressman, with less ceremony thsI
discretion, attempts 10 get an appoint
inert with the ear Of the president owe
tile telephone, end there Is record OF ;
stage earthquake produced in the IIivat
secretaTy's room by furious congress
man who found the telephone inefTect
i've and his 0lympian style even les
so. Notwithstanding that It Is almos
Che sole modern Improvement III tn
White House. President Cleveland wa
seen at tie telephone but once, ana then
needless TO say, ECt On call.
NO BLOOD SPILLED.