The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-18
BY r. NJ. Larner,

Washington, Feb. 17.-Not in years
has there been such general entertain
ing and, apparently, so much good
| fellowship among senators and repre-
sentatives as this season has witness
ed. This is a fact particularly noted
| by old-timers. who have had a part in
| Washington affairs covering a long
tanning may properly be attributed to
the example set by the White House;
just why there should be more cordial
social relations among the men who
play a part in public affairs is, how
ever, not so easily explained.
The Roosevelts are essentially social
and society people. Owing to the ill
health of Mrs. Mckinley, always an
invalid, the entertainments under the
last administration were confined
practically to the big official functions
that must be held. The Clevelands
were not society people according to
the usual Interpretation put upon that
term, though Mrs. Cleveland made the
White House much gayer than it had
been under the Harrison regime. Pres
ident Arthur was a lover of society,
but there was no such atmosphere
about the White House in his day as
there is now.
Mrs. Roosevelt has entertained with
teas and musicales and personal re-
ceptions more often, perhaps, than has
ever been done in the history of the
White House Tho Precidant iS
tremely sociable, always having friends
with him at luncheon or dinner. He
is the life of these gatherings; and
his love of good stories is responsible
for the wave of story telling that has
swept over the national capital. For
some unexplained reason, members of
the Senate figure in most of the stories
going the rounds.
Senator Joe Blackburn of Kentucky,
since his return to the Senate, has dis
pensed with the habit of smoking i'm
ported cigars of the finest brands and
highest prices. His wife presented him
with a choice briarwood pipe in
handsome case at Christmas. The
Democratic cloak room and the Senate
corridors are already familiar with the
delicious and pungent odors of Joe"
Blackburn's pipe, and the superior
brand of tobacco he smokes. The Ken
lucky senator was enjoying his pipe
in the cloak room and was in the mid
| ole of one of his best stories, when he
| was called out into the corridor by an
impatient constituent. With his pipe in
| his mouth, Senator Blackburn went
| forth to see his visitor. While he stood
| talking and putting, an old friend
passed and exclaimed:
Hello, Joe. Smoke pipe now? Is
| that in accordance with senatorial dig
nity?"
1T may not be in accordance with
senatorial dignity" replied the Blue
Grass senator, smiling and smoking,
but it is very comforting
| REPRESENTATIVE Shattuc, the fat, jol-
ly-ioking member from Cincinnati, is
never so happy as when is playing a
practical joke or his fellow members
or some of the employees of the House.
Not even the little boys, called pages
of the House, are immune from his
| playfulness. Many of the little fellows
have the autograph craze, and they are
keen after the signatures of distin-
guished or conspicuous persons.
Yesterday. Representative Shattuc
hustled into the House from the direc-
| ton of the Senate Meeting one of the
youthful autograph fiends the Cincin-
matt member said:
Say, Bud, just passed Lilliuokalani,
the former Queen of Hawaii, on her
way to the Senate. You ought to get
her name in your book"
| Bud only needed the suggestion, and
| moment later. album in hand, he was
dashing through the corridor trying to