Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1901-05-10

cigar there with his cronics.
Just opposite the private dining
room is an electric elevator always
used by Mrs. Mckinley which until
recently was an obsolete affair run 10y
hydraulic power, having been put III
for the benefit Of Grandma Garfield
A broad stairway ascends to the sec
ond story, where the corridor, lighted
by stained glass skylight, is utilized
as a sitting room, being made coy
and comfortable with portieres, rugs
and easy chairs. This part OF the
passageway, into which the bed rooms
open, is cut off by partition from the
Office quarters. which occupy the east
end OF the second floor, and thus
privacy for the Presidents family is Sc
cured.
Mrs. Mckinley has at her disposal
only five bedrooms and parlor. The
parlor is the Red room, which custom
sets aside for family use, the Blue
Green and East rooms, being utilized
for reception purposes only. Lincoln
and Grant slept in the Red room, and
the Prince of Wales now Edward VII
occupied it when he visited the White
House during the Buchanan term. The
mansion has seven bath rooms, and
the one attached to Mrs. Mckinley
sleeping apartments possesses two
tubs. Soap is furnished at Uncle
Sans expense, and the towels. which
are almost as big as small table cloths,
are labeled Presidents House."
The man ager of the White House is
Col. Theodore Bingham, U. S. A., who
also acts as master OF ceremonies at
the Presidents public receptions. He
handles all the funds, and, under Mr.
McKinley's general direction, makes
all purchases for the mansion, except
ing only food, which is bought by the
steward, William Sinclair. Sinclair,
who is a colored man, was Mr.. Cleve.
lands butler before his master came
to Washington. He buys not only
the ordinary table supplies, but also
the wines and cigars; but no dealer
ever ventures to boast OF White House
patronage for advertising purposes
because of warning by Sinclair that to
do so would entail forfeiture of his
custom. He is responsible for the
safety OF every article of furniture,
tableware and linen in the executive
mansi On, being under bond for $780,
600.
Not so many years ago the White
House was. in effect, a farm home
stead. Where the treasury now
stands there was a vegetable patch,
cultivated to supply the Presidents
table, and a full orchard covered the
ground now occupied by the huge war
department building. Half dozen
cows belonging to the establish
ment grazed on the pasture in the
rear, and beneath the portico was a
dairy, to which water was brought by
pipe from spring in franklin square,
several blocks away. Successive mis-
tresses of the White House exercised
supervision over garden and dairy,
and Andrew Jobnson's daughter,
Martha Patterson, SKINNED the milk
every morning with her own fair
hands. What is now furnace room
for one of the greenhouses was an ice
house up to Lincoln's time, the ice to
fill it being fetched from the Potomac.
To-day, alas! the President has
ceased to be an agriculturist. His
farm has been wiped out by the con.
struction of the Treasury and War
Department buildings and by the lay
ing out OF Executive avenue. He
keeps no herd OF cows, and there is no
longer a dairy to be supplied with
their milk. The mansion has been
cooped up with a tall spike fence Of
iron, cutting off most of the land that
used to belong to it, and has thus
been converted into city house, with
good sized gardens and lawns around
IT,