Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1912-07-11
SUNDAY At CAPITAL
The White House Has Not Yet
Become "ContinentaIized."
It 10 Generally Understood That on
the Sabbath Only Intimate Friends
Are Expected, and No General
Hospitality ls lndulged In.

Washington.-There Is one house In
Washington where Sunday is observed
as strictly as in the days when sun
day was a day of soul-searching. The
White House has not become "conu-
nentalized," and during President
Taft's administration 1t has been un-
derstood that on Sunday only inti-
mate friends are expected at the
White House, and no general hos
pitality Is indulged In on that day.
Luncheon and dinner at the White
House on Sunday are family gather
ings with only house guests or one
or two close friends Of the president
or Mrs. Taft present and politics or
affairs of state form no part In the
conversation. Mrs Taft Is very FOND
of music, but she is Of an essentially
religious temperament, and no secular
music has been heard In the White
House on Sunday during the present
regime, writes A. Maurice Low IN
Harper's Weekly.
The constitution of the continental
Sunday for the puritan Sabbath mas
not been accomplished without much
criticism and a good deal of protest
There are many old-fashioned persons
who hear OF Sunday goings-on as too
awful to contemplate and as proofI
that the republic is going to destruc-
d ton. They bemoan the passing OF the
simple days when Washington took lts
pleasures quietly and rather cere-
moniously; when to dine at seven be-
tokened ones extreme worldliness,
and at ten o'clock the lights were out
and all respectable pople were In. IL
is the new-rich, they say, who have
worked all the mischief: the people
who have built great houses and
brought with them retinues OF serv-
ants and transformed Washington
from a village into a capital 1t Is the
new-rich who are always blamed for
everything and who are never given
any praise. although It Is to be pre-
sumed that In this rather chaotic
scheme of ours they serve some use
full purpose. Perhaps 1t Is true that
the new-rich have brought about the
change, but 1t Is only In the last
decade or 80 that Washington can be
said to have become a capital In the
broader sense. The social soil, still
In a virgin state waiting for the seed
Of letters and art, has become. never
the less, the soil OF a recognized cap
ital. Washington Is as yet too much
a political center to be capital as
the term Is used In Europe, where not
only politics focus but also literature,
art and science: 1t resembles rather,
on a greatly magnifled scale, a state
capital where position Is due to the
accident Of election. Washington has
not yet reached the calm serenity
that is the charm of an Old World
capital, or a grande dame who knows
her world and Is secure In her station
and can afford to be gracious to her
interiors or freezingly polite to would
be equals. There Is something still
breathless In the atmosphere OF this
spoiled child of American cities.
A witty woman once said that Wash
ington was "the city Of detached SEN
tences;" everybody was In such hur-
ry that no one had time to finish a
conversation. The observation was
better than most epigrams. for 1t has
the merit OF truth. The Americans,
like the English, used to be accused
of taking their pleasures sadly, as II
they were furnishing themselves for
playing when they ought to be at
work No one will say that about
Washington, which seems to take Its
pleasures too fevershly to get the
most out OF them. The more things
that can be crowded into a day the
greater success that day Is counted.
Washington always gives one the
impression of great hotel where
everything is transient and the last
thing one expects Is permanency.
There are no permanent guests" in
Washington. People stream through
the great houses Of Washington as
they do through the corridors Of a
hotel, and every one feels that to-mor-
row or next day there will be new
faces at the table. The attractive
wife Of diplomat at whose house
you have dined or whom you have fre-
quently met at other peoples houses
tells you she is "desolated" for her
husband has been transferred and she
has got to pack up. Your are sorry,
Of course, but your sorrow Ia not so
keen that you do not take a lively
interest In her husbands successor.
What is he like? Is he married? What
is she like? You will miss her. natur.
ally-but that's Washington, to meet
and to part. In Washington many &C.
quaintances are made, but few last
ing friendships. Perhaps that is one
of its charms. Life must not be taken
too seriously, and the great of today
are deposed tomorrow and forgotten
the next day and not even a tear is
shed. 1t Is all rather artificial some
what bewildering and very hectic, and
perhaps that Is the reason why at this
particular stage in its development It
has taken to the Continental Sunday
with such passionate fervor.