The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-27

"Ap interview? Why, 1 don't mind be-
ing interviewed. But what shall it be
about? I'm afraid can't tell you any
thing interesting =wa
1t was with a charming smile and a
characteristic little shrug of the Shout
ders that Mrs Cushman K Davis thus
half hours talk.
She was sitting on the broad piazza OF
the Davis home, which is surrounded by
the prettiest stretch of lawn perhaps in
all st. Paul. Mrs. Davis gazed thought
fully over the grounds where the tall
trees threw shifting shadows and glints
of light f1ecked the green with golden
spots, and then, with that frank direct
gaze which is one of the lady's chief
charms, she turned and remarked, alb
ruptly:
'As a preliminary, let me tell you one
thing. 1 am very glad to get back to
st. Paul. 1t is the home of my birth,
and, to me, it is one of the most beau
tiful cities in the world. While in many
respects I admire Washington very much,
little touch of heimweh always fingers
when the train carries me away from
the union station.
CHARMS OF CITIES.
Its odd, isn't it, what individual
charms cities possess? One we admire
for it's quiet domestic attributes, like a
good but trife uninteresting housewife
Another appeals to us on account of a
certain gay bohemianiSm, and so on"
What would you characterize as
Washington's chief charm, Mrs. Davis?'
queried the G b e.
Its kaleidoscope character" replied
the lady, instantly
"Of course, old familiar scenes are
always there. But the people-and, after
all, it is the people that make the city
they are always charming. Every few
years a crowd of public men, with their
families, appears, and the ones you have
Just become accustomed to and learned
to love take their departure. But Wash
ington has another feature suggestive of
the Kaleidoscope. That is its picturesque
ness I remember, as a child, how that
curious little instrument, the kaIeido-
scope, used to interest me, and I also re-
member how the little shifting bits of
bright-colored glass were arranged in
such brilliant contrasts. It is so with
Washington life. Intentionally or unin-
tentionally, the people seem to gather
in picturesque groups. There are always
gay street scenes. Altogether, it makes
one think of a vivid pageantry, instead
of modern workaday city"
While Mrs. Davis had been talking two
Italians, a man and a woman, had come
up with the usual squeaky hand-organ,
and while they ground out their manu-
featured music Mrs. Davis gazed with a
curious air Of fascination at the stolid,
patient face of the woman-a patience
that expressed unconsciously the most
pethetic woe-and after she had dropped
a coin into the little cup, held out by a
lean, brown hand, she turned with what
seemed a sigh of relief, and said
1.-THE utter submission of those Italian
peasant women fascinates me. Look, ="
she went on, nodding in the direction of
the strolling players, who were moving
slowly down Laurel avenue, the woman
two or three feet behind the man, you
would never find an American woman
who would submit to anything of that
sort.
A WASHINGTON REMINIsCENcE.
'I remember one night in Washington
we entertained a gentleman al dinner
who had made considerable of a study
Of the lives of those people. and he ex-
planned at some length to the senator and
myself the padrone system. I distinctly
recollect his stating it was one of the
most complete systems of slavery the