St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1904-01-06
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

/.
Cemmission-New YEARS and other
5 Recepsion.-The Building Fund.
+. Christmas has come and gone and a
/. hew year has dawned upon us. Never
/ before has Christmas been more univer--
sally celebrated in this city than last
year. The cold bracing weather seemed
| to stimulate old and young, white and
black. to visit the shops, packed with
| great variety of holiday gifts. There
seemed TO be no lack of money and it
| was freely spent. We noticed in a large
| store, two colored women, standing in
| front of display of jewelry, debating
| whether-to purchase a desired article,
when one exclaimed, Anyway I have
got to save enough money to buy loaf
of bread and pound of meat!" It is
surprising how ambitious and well
dressed the majority of the colored peo-
| pie are in Washington. great change
has taken place within a few years.
Mrs. Roosevelt gave large Christmas
party to over 400 children at the White
| House. The company was largely COM
| posed of children from the families of
senator's and representatives. The child
rem had a fine musical program in the
east room; the handsome $4,000 gold
piano was used on this occasion. Cake,
| ice cream and other delicacies were
served afterwards in the dining room,
which was enjoyed by the children as
well as the games which were played.
The President looked as happy as the
children when he glanced into the room.
| He is considered the most hospitable
President that has ever filled the White
! House. He is called by some "the dir
ner giving President
| H. Pinckney has displaced Sinclair as
| steward in the White House. He was
| former butler of Mr.. Roosevelt, while
Sinclair had charge during the admins
tration of President Cleveland, Harri-
son and Mckinley and part of Roose-
velt's first term. Pinckney is a negro
and is paid 81. 800 per year by the
United States government for his service
| and is under bond of $40, 900, and is
| held responsible for the safe keeping of
the china, glass and plate service. He
always pays down cash in his daily
marketing and is never allowed to take
b1ibe.
DULY about SO could be seated at the
old dining room table, and when they
used the hallway it was SO drafty that it
was Objectionable. President Roosevelt
was the first one to use the east room
tor banquet hall. The horse shoe table
will seat II guests. There are usually
four state dinners given each winter,
costing from $500 to ST 900 each, &C.
cordipg to guests and occasion. We see
what great change has been made
since George Washington was President,
when two dollars was considered enough
to pay the expense Of each guest at
state dinner. The old dinner usually
consisted Of ten courses. The new
$4,000 service of Wedgewood and cut
glass is now used at state dinners with
the official linen and plate. Ii the as
sistant secretary to the President, whose
duty it is to arrange the order OF the
guests according to rank at such din
| ners, becomes puzzled, he generally con
suits assistant secretary of safe, Mr..
| Adee, who is considered one OF, the
| highest authorities in such matters, and
then he places cards bearing those names
in the slot openings of the pasteboard
plan, which is kept for that purpose. 1t
is very important not to make mistake
in such matters for sometimes serious in
ternational complications have arisen.
| Foreg n diplomats are very sensitive in
matters OF etiquette. The guest tof
highest rank is placed next to the Presi-
dent. and. his wife occupies the seat be-
| Size the lady of the White House.
The leading translator of the state de-
partment has just passed away; this
will be a most difficult position to fill for
Henry L. Thomas understood more than
20 different languages, all but Russian,
and that he was said to read quite WELL
He has been in service since 1875 and
was an assistant previous to that time,
coming here from Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
variety OF beech has teen selected by
Col. Symons, to be placed near the east
ern entrance to the White House. The
tree planted by President Mckinley is
thriving; it is oak.
F. NJ. Higgins, chief examiner of the
Civil Service Commission, made an in
| tereStiDg report. mere were AZ, Z4S
| appointment made last year in the
various branches and departments of
government service; nearly so per cent of
those examined passed and SO per cent
| got positions. The number of A americans
| IN the Philippine service is more than so
per cent of the entire force; 2,777 Ameri-
cans and 2.697 Filipinos. 1t is expected
that when the latter have learned our
methods and enough English they will
take the place of the Americans.
The early fog on New Years morning
soon rolled away and it proved to be an
unusually mild, pleasant day, notwith-
standing the predictions for rain or
snow" About 10 a. N. people began to
assemble near the White House to see the
arrival OF the Diplomatic Corps for their
reception at IL l.. M. by the President,
which usually takes 20 minutes. Their
number has increased so much that they