Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-28
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other side of the ocean. the no coat move
ment has been agitated a number of times,
but somehow it dropped out as soon as the
particular warm spell that revives 1t cooled
down. During President Clevelands first
summer at the White House / was en-
ployed there for a time. 1 remember him
coming down stairs one morning rather
early and reading the riot act to some of
the colored men who were washing the
windows in the east room. They were at
work in their understands; their breasts
being open and en- deshabille, generally
speaking. You fellows are not farm
hands, he said to one of them, and there
Is no reason why you should not wear
overshirts and coats as we'll l don't care
| for halfn naked people about here. That
knocked out the no coat movement in the
White House. for 1 am free to admit that
the workers about the White House had
not observed some of the rules of pro-
priety carefully as they have since. In
an hour the two particular men l refer to
had on working coats and have never
failed to wear them every day since The
bureau of supplies and accounts broke all
records last week on the no coat move
ment. First one paymaster appeared In a
white shirt a second. the day after, In
blue shirt and the third, the succeeding
day. in a red shirt. The patriotic trio
and their shirts have been much COM
mented on and admired during the week.
Even this boom in favor of the movement
has failed to give 1t any impetus In the
many office coats to be seen as ever. In
jury was done the movement by class
who always overdo everything, and who
not only discarded their office coats, but
collars and neckties as we'll"
X X X X
years ago I heard described in a sermon
in the House of Representatives, the clergy
man taking as his text The Battle Of
Armagedden,' almost the very occurrences
in China of today" volunteered a promi-
nent resident of West Washington to a
Star reporter. 1.-The sermon was the SEN
sation of the times then and was published
in pamphlet form and received wonderful
circulation 1 suppose it can be foun. in
many church libraries yet. 1t was pub
lished under the title of The Battle Of
Armagedden.' Before the civil war. and
for a number of years before the new
wings of the Capitol were finished, 1t was
the practice of the chaplain of the House
of Representatives to deliver sermon in
the hall of the House of Representatives
every Sunday morning. This the chaplain
gave besides the opening brief prayer
to the daily sessions. These Sunday morn
ing sermons were very largely attended.
especially by strangers in the city, though
often the attendance on the part OF repre-
sentatives and senators and their families
was quite large. The sermons were not
strictly orthodox some old-fashioned
people would like, but as they had semi
official Endorsement to them they were verv
attractive. Very often the chaplains took
few shots in the political world, and when
they were fully informed by the political
leaders with the facts they repaid those
who took the trouble to walk up to the
Capitol Sunday mornings to hear them, for
there were no street cars those days. and
only occasionally the omnibus or stage ran
on Sunday mornings. The soon-to-come
civil war was the subject of sermons all
over the land and every preacher tried in
addition to getting In his doctrinal points
to run in as much fresh news as he could
pick up. The chaplain Of the House was,
as it were. the fountain head of the re-
ligious political news bureau. In The Bat
tie of Armagedden' the chaplain was pre-
dieting the civil war and war that was to
follow. In the discussion of the latter part
of his subject he gave what turns out to
be almost Photographic descriptions of the
occurrences of trday in China, Russia.
France. England. Japan and America. He
even describes the corraling of the world
diplomats in the Chinese capital and the ap-
peals of China for the friendly Intervention
of America and France The scene of the
worlds battle, however. he laid in the Mis-
sissippi valley instead of in China