The Saint Paul globe., 1903-03-11
Famous White House sideboard.

A quarter of a. century ago, when
Hayes was president, certain young
ladies of Cincinnati offered to Mrs.
Hayes a magnificent mahogany side
board as a token of their appreciation
of her action in barring wine from the
White house.
Two Of the donors subsequently be-
came the wives of distinguished men
Bellamy StOrer, our ambassador to
Austria-Hungary, and William Taft,
civil governor of the Philippines. The
others were young women of social
prominence, and all of them were ard
ent advocates of prohibition.
There was at first a question as to
the advisability of accepting the gift.
The president, whoever he may be, is
always beset by well meaning people
who are anxious, for one reason or an
other, to bestow presents upon him or
upon his wife. .5ts,e..t >. ,-.--
But it was finally decided to accept,
and the sideboard was shipped to
Washington where it was duly in
stalled in, the private dining room of
the executive mansion.
The article of furniture was very
large and of a most massive descrip-
ton. About eight feet in length it
weighed not far from a ton, and it's
carvings were elaborate and beautiful,
On the front, below, was the American
d
shield bearing the Stars and Stripes
the coat of arms of the United States,
in fact, Slightly modified. In the mid
die of the back was a large and very
| fine plate glass mirror.
Through a series of administrations
the sideboard preserved it's place in the
private dinin" room, and nobody i'm
agined that the time would ever arrive
when it would be disturbed. In a sense
it fell from it's high estate after the
Hayeses left the White house, and,
though its drawers were used chiefly
to hold silverWare, many g. bottle of
champagne and other warm stuff dis
approved by the Woman's Christian
Temperance union was permitted to re-
pose upon it, while In the cupboards in
the lower part decanters were con-
veniently stored.
During the administration of Chester
A. Arthur, if common report does not
err, the good old mahogany sideboard
witnessed not a few rouSing times and
supplied a deal of good cheer.
This was bad enough, but worse, far
worse, was to come. Congress decided
that the White house needed to be
made over again, and in the reign of
Roosevelt the inward parts of the his
toric mansion were completely torn
out, everything being done over" and
whatever was old, Including the furni-
ture, being wiped out or banished
The sideboard, together with a great
quantity of other material, went to
auction a few days ago, and this par
ticular article of virtue was sold-how
painful is the tale!-to the keeper Of a
beer garden.
The beer garden man, who runs a sa-
loon and open-air concert hall in Wash
ington, knew a good thing when he saw
one.
He paid $S5 for the sideboard, and
promptly had it conveyed in van to
his place of business, where it was
hoiSted in through a window in Sec
tions. Fortunately for him, it was Just
the size for bar of the modern and
upto-date buffet" style.
The customer steps up to the buffet
| and orders what he wants of the bar
tender, who, arrayed in a neat white
jacket, stands in front of and not be-
hind the sideboard. 1t costs no more to
take drink in this way, and it is much
more swell, don't you know.
The $S5 paid by the beer garden pro-
prietor was less than the mere wood in
the Sideboard cost the young ladies of
Cincinnati. Obviously, then, the pur-
chase was a bargain. But imagine, If
you can, the horror of the surviving
donors and of numerous other persons
| when the news of the fate of the his
| toric piece of furniture was wired over
| the country. >1a
Its present owner declares that he
| will take the piece'of furniture to the
! worlds fair at st. Louis, where he ex-
poets 1t to serve as a big ADVERTISE
| ment.