Evening star., 1939-08-27

gathers from the reports in the
Last Sensation, when the girls held
a picnic to which they invited their
bosses. One of them gave an ex-
hibition dance. There was beer in
the park. President Andrew john
son, the impeachment proceedings
against him safely concluded, at
tended. Sometime in the course
of the sultry summer afternoon,
bearded Secretary of the Treasury
Welles allegedly kissed the dancer.
The Last Sensation printed a pic
ture of that kiss, and commented
on 1t with shocked horror. The
President himself was shown look
ing on. 1t was even Tumored that
he had kissed the girl, but the
artist hadn't caught him in the
act.
Political Activities.
There were not only girl clerks,
but female lobbyists" The Last
Sensation described them as "a
very importunate, important and
impertinent class of women who
throng the Senate parlor, from
which cosy nest they send their
cards, per pages. to their favored
Senators, who politely receive or en-
dure them, as the case may be-"
The girls even lent themselves
to political espionage, the maga-
zine charged:
During the present session Of
Congress, a system of spying has
been entered into which is as per-
nicious in practice as it is mean in
conception. A certain hight toned
Republican Senator merely called
one evening on some lady friends
at a fashionable boarding house.
They received him in hospitable
manner. But while he was enjoy
ing the delights of their society and
the luXuries of the season, the
privacy of the scene was intruded
on by the eyes and ears of a SPY
in the employ of two leading radi-
cal members of the House. This
creature had tracked the Senator
to the boarding house and been
admitted with the connivance of
the landlady, whose school of poll
tics was the same as that of her
employers
Current Events.
In that same issue of the Last
Sensation, firm advertised gen
uine false mustaches" for 81 each.
They were the rage of the day for
the well-dressed man, and no mem
Der of Congress would have thought
of lurking at the door of the Treas
ury without wearing one, we'll oiled
and curled.
The big society event of the sum-
mer in Washington was the an
nouncement of the engagement of
Senator Henderson of Missouri to
a Miss Foote, daughter of a Patent
Office employe. The Government
was selling per cent bonds. to
run for 80 years. The Ku Klux
Klan was riding high in Alabama.
A posse was chasing wild man
in the swamps of Louisiana, and a
wild woman had been reported from
Texas. Joe Coburn and Mike
McCoole, representing. respectively,
North and South, were matched to
fight for $4,000 and the heavy
weight championship of the United
States at Cold Springs, Ind, in July.
A shocked and indignant public
protested, and both pugilists were
Jailed.
A genius named Zodock Deddrick
had invented steam mana con-
trivance which walked like a man
and could pull heavier load than
six horses. 1t was believed to be
just the thing needed for the great
Westward migration Deddrick was
putting suits of clothes on his
steam men, SO they would not scare
horses-the chief drawback to their
use. Out in st. Louis, one w. S.
Hutchins had invented an aeretator.
or flying machine, equipped with
"a coloric engine" A case of hydro
phobia was cured by moonstone
at Alexandria.
Some high officials of the Gov
ernment were served cooked rats
at least, SO it was rumored-at a
dinner at the Chinese Legation.
The Marquis of Hastings dropped
million dollars on the Derby. Two
teams of women defled all conven-
tions and played a game Of base
ball at Peterborough, N. Y.
Defied Convention.
Through all these soul-stirring
events, the little band of women
clerks at the Treasury defled con-
vention and the attempted f1irta-
tions of Congressman, preparing the
way for their sisters who were to
come after them. The agitation
against them declined. They proved
efficient workers, and the lurid re-
ports of their new-found freedom