The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

private wires are pulled that control such
leglslatlon. Therefore whatever Washing
ton may be, ii is never monotonous and
It's Heterogeneous society, wherever SEEM
is not commonplace or devoid of inter-
est.
Certain peculiar customs of Washington
serve to illustrate the simplicity Of
society. For example, it is the rule here
for all strangers in the city to pay first
visits Not only this, but il is de rigueur
for all the Washington maguates to re-
turn visits, Cby leaving a CARD on all per-
sons, known or unknown, who call upon
them. If the wife of the corner grocer
in Washington takes it into her head that
she would like TO have the acquaintance
OF the wife of the Secretary of State, she
can easily attain tin a social sense. All
she has TO do is to secure some passable
costume, land Washington is a much less
critical place to dress for than any in
terror village, and to present herself on
the regular day" at the Secretary's
abode. She will be admitted with the
throng, win be received by the ladies in
line just as cordially as the highest nabob
in town, and will leave her card with the
bushel or so of others on departing. In
two or three days Mrs. Corner Grocer will
have the satisfaction of seeing the Secre-
tary's swell equipage drive. up to her
humble door, coachman and footman both
''on deck" so to say, and the latter will
give a pull at the bell that calls heads to
the neighboring windows, and will leave
Two bits of pasteboard-one bearing the
official inscription THE Secretary of
State;" the other the name of his wife
That is all there is about il; but to some
people il counts for a very great deal
AS subject for future conversation, in
some womaus mouths. it furnishes an adj
mirable text beginning 1.-THE day that the
Secretary of State and his wife called at
a
at certain swell receptions in the White
House and other places, ii has been found
necessary to detail a special policeman,
or servant, TO guard the card-basket, from
the eager hands of ambitious persons,
who would pick out the paste-boards OF
those highest in society and transfer
them to their own card baskets at home,
as an indication that they were them
selves are on calling terms with those
whose names are engraved.
Some on our Washington customs,
though Every Democratic" tend to make
society altogether too easy of entrance,
and to foist upon it persons whom it
would otherwise hardly notice.
One of the chief charms of life in Wash
ington is that one is entirely out of the
world of business and money-making.
There is no talk of stocks or trade. The
atmosphere of the market and the eX-
change does not penetrate to the draw
ing-room, and the lions of an evening
party are not often prosperous manufac-
turers rich merchants or successful
brc kers Nowhere else is mere wealth Of
so little account. A man is estimated not
as in New York for what he is worth in
cash or real estate; but for his power in
politics, his standing in Congress, his
achievements in diplomacy or his talent
as a Supreme Court lawyer. The man of
greatest influence has often no private
fortune whatever. Cabinet ministers have
lived in modest boarding houses, and
senators have occupied cheap rooms over
retail stores. Daniel Webster who was al
ways in debt, lived in meaner quarters
than a Capitol page would to-day. Hen
ry Wilson, while Vice President, stayed
in fourth rate hotel. Mr.. Boutwell,. when
Secretary of the Treasury, boarded a a
private house in an questionable street
and kept no carriage; Thaddeus Stevens,
the almost absolute master of Congress
during his day, occupied little two-story
brick house, and lived with extreme fru-
gality. Mr.. Dawes, while al the head of
the great Financial Committee of the
House, that had power to make and I'M
make fortunes, was content with two
small chambers in an indifferent hotel
The influence of those men would have
been no greater bad they owned palatial
residences and dispense ed the most lavish
hospitality. But II now anu I0en happens
that a man of very ordinary talents, and
particularly his women folk" attain
considerable distinction by having the
means to entertain handsomely.
Another special charm about Washing
ton life is its kaleidoscope variety. The
men and women you meet are not all cut
from the same piece You cannot predict
before they open their mouths just what
they are going to say Their mental and
moral processes ave not all regulated by
the same rigid laws of custom, the infiu-
ence of the same surroundings, and the
force of the same inherited ideas. They
come from all paris of this wide continent
of ours, and mineling with them is
srrinkling of all foreign types Each
brings to the ola porida something fresh
and strongly individual. You may take it
for granted that most of them are people
of some force of character, else they
would not have cut loose from their local
ties and transported themselves beyond
the narrow limits of their native hori-
IONS The many-sided American charac-
ter and the infinite variety of American
physiognomy may be studied here as no
where else. AS to classes and occupations
the politicians, of course, furnish the web
and wool of the social fabric; but they
are of every sort of intellectual hue and
texture and upon this background are
TnDrClUeTeu UldllN IlONGl anu SlIlhIilS liS
ures Scientific explorers from the ends
of the earth; naturalists who give their
lives to bugs and butterflies; inventors
Just about to revolutionize the mechanics
of the world land spectators who play
high stakes for slices of Uncle Sans big
farm large enough to make half a dozen
European principalities; railroad kings
with their attendant trans; weather-beat
en- naval heroes just from distant seas,
seeming to carry flavor Of the gale and
the salt spray about them; military men
whose names are household words; decor
ated diplomats, always chattering
French, whatever their mother tongues
may be; book worms burrowing in the
library of Congress; half-breed Indians
looking after the interests OF their half
civilized tribes: and so the procession
might keep on marching down to the end
of the next column. They come and go.
Every year new actors appear upon the
stage. Many Of the old ones remain, but
the permanent elements Of Washington
society are not large enough to give a
III. 4lrsI