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in the White House. A Description of tho President’s Mansion at tho NatUp’s Capital as It Appears To-Day. T HE White House has been greatly changed within the past few years, writes Frank G. Carpenter in the Detroit Free Press. All kinds of improve ments have been made, and the white hair of John Quincy Adams’ ghost mast rise in holy horror as be looks at the magnificent furnishings. Mrs. President Harrison expended some thing like $52,000 cn improvements, and a number of changes have been made by Mrs. Cleveland. The flarri- hods spent a lot on the kitchen. When they came in tho basement was fall of rats. One kitchen floor had been laid on top of another, and they were all rotten. Mrs. Harrison ordered tho wooden floors taken out and had tho gronnd covered with concrete. Upon the top of this she put porcelain tiles and walled all tho rooms of the base ment as high os one’s shoulder with the same material. The White Honso is now lighted with electric lights. The chandeliers have electric globes and the lights are kept burning in the basement and in most of tho rooms of tho building all night. I think it was Martin Van Buren Who was denounced all over the coun try for baying a set of gold spoons for tho White House. The new china which has been recently bought is worth almost its weight in gold. I know nothing about tho late purchases of Mrs. Cleveland, but there is a now set of cut glass in tho cupboards of the executive mansion which cost $1073, and 1 happen to know that Mrs. Harrison sent one order to Europe for twenty- four dor.on china plates and five dozen coffee cups of a special design. Con- S css allows each President something [6 $40,000 a year and more to run the White House, and a large part oi this goes into new furniture and dishes. The linen costs a small for tune. The table cloths are of the finest damask, and the napkins shine like silk. Now carpets are 'nought about every aix years, and though the ones which I found on the different parlors are good, Mrs. McKinley will probably have a chance to select new ones. J don’t believe she will care to redecor ate tho rooms. When the blue room was last fitted up the artists received more than $5000 for the work. The walls of the blue room are now padded and draped with silk as fine as that of tho ball drosses of the ladies who will come hero to slnke hands with President McKinley. Tho silk is of the most delicate blue, and it is inter woven with silver. It is the same with tho red room, which is also hang with silk and whose fnrniture has been designed and cushioned to match. Tho carpets of all the ground floor parlors are fine. That on the east room is so soft that one’s foot sinks into it as if it were a bed of moss. It takes almost 500 yards of carpet to eover^Jho floor,_and the one now than a thSus3[iJ yards"’' Co ca*rpc\ "tne White House parlors and dining rooms, and the oarpetk every wl ere match the iarnituro and bangings. Bat lot mo tell you just how tho White House looks in this year of our Lord 1897. It is bigger than it seems, for it covers the third of an acre. You do not see tho basement as you look at it from the street, and tho base ment is almost a house m itself. Its rooms are high, and, with its recent Improvements, it is now as dry as a bone. The White Hoase is some dis tance back from tho street. A big park surrounds it, and going up to tho flout door you walk about a drive which leads in tho shape of a half moon to Pennsylvania avenue. On one side of this drive there is n flag before the front door of the White House. The front door of the White House! What stories it could tell of grief as well as joy. Through that door Abra ham Lincoln was brought after he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. Step with me to that side window and 1 w;ll show you an old man who was one of the White House messengers at the time, and who is still stationed at the door. His name is Pendie. He told mo once how little Tad Lincoln came running to him tho morning ati^r the shooting and cried: “They have killed my papa; they have killed my papa!” He will tell you how ho picked up Tad and tried to comfort him, and how he carried him upstairs to his been yonder'ally beautiful. It was, hoaever, not much larger than a chair. I visited the room where it stood during my stay in Delhi some years ago. 'ine tnrono room was, I venture, not as larce as this White Home vestibule, and here, instead of a chair of jewels, there is a whole wall n ado of bits of glass and costly stone pat together in the form of a magnificent mosaic. It has cost not as many thousand dollars as the pea cock throne cost millions, bnt when the electric lights shine behind it it is, I venture, far more beaatifnl. It is in this ve-tibnle that the Marine Band, dressed in tboir gorgeous red uni forms, with their brazen instruments shining like so much gold, play at tho President’s receptions, and over this mosaic floor step the diplomats of all the Nations of the world, clad m their gold lace; the gay uniformed officers of our army and navy, and the pow dered and bejewcled throng .vhich makes up what is known as Washing ton society. room and talked to dropped off to sleep. It was through that same door that Garfield was bronght after he was shot by Gnitcau. He had been bnt a few weeks in the White House, and, tired and worn out by fighting with the of fice-seekers and tho Senate, was just about to go to Long Branch for a few days of mneh-needed rest. He came ont. hero and took the carriage for tho depot, not half a mile away, and was waiting for the train to start when the assassAi’s bullet brought him back. He was carried in through this door and lay hero for weeks, racked with excruciating pain. We passed policemen when we came into tho yard. They patrol tho streets about tho White House night and day. There are now more than a dozen on duty within tho White House grounds, and President McKinley will be watched almost as carefully as any king. There are guards within the vestibolo oil, the other tado of the **••-*>—•*—- meat, aawjthe toossengers who con duct you ffom room to rnptn, though they look very harmless, have by long watching become expert detectives, and ean tell a crank almost at a glance. There are only four hours of the day when strangers without urgent business can bo admitted to the White House. This is from 10 a. m. till 2 p. m. After this, if you call and ring the bell, you will see a guard’s face at the little round hole filled with plate glass in tho mosaic window of the door and a pair of sharp eyes will ex amine you before the knob is turned which lots you in. If you are so fortunate ns to pass this inspection, you will see the doors open inward and a moment later you will find yourself standing in what You will go to the left through this vestibule to reach the second floor of tho White House, where the offices are, if yon have business with Presi dent McKinley, but if you wish to see Mrs. McKinley and are so fortunate as to be a friend of the family, yoa will be taken right across tbe ves tibule, and a door in that wonderful wall will open for you and admit you to the parlors of the White House. At the President’s evening receptions the ABTHTJB, TIIF. WHITE Hors* MESSENGER, WHITE HOUSE VESTIBULE, Oil “CAVE OP ALADDIN. pavement, and in coming into the aide of the yard nearest the Treasury you walk half the length of tho build ing before you reach the front porch. As yon do this you ean look right down into the basement and see the servants at work. Tho room below you is devoted to tho lanndrv, and yon may see colored women here al most any day of tho week rubbing awuyat our President’s shirts. Passing these you reach the large porte- cochere. Tne columns which uphold this are as big ns tho biggest oak tree, aud tho stone p.atform within thorn is so largo that a regiment of soldiers could be stationed upon it and have room to spare. You reach t.'us plat- /orm by stone steps and stand At last might be called a very cave of Alad din. Columns have been written about tho east room and the wonders of the parlors of the White House. The most beautiful part o( the whole building to my mind is this great ves tibule, with its frescoed ceiling, its beautiful walls covered with tho coat 6( anus of the United States, its floor of many colored tiles, and tho jeweled wall which separates it from the corri dor opening into the blue room, tho red room and, tho green room beyond. One of the great monurchs of India made a throne oi gold, the back of which was set with jewels to represent the feathers and colors of the pea cock’s tail. The throne cost $30,- 000,009, and it is described as having rooms to the left of tho Whito House will bo fitted up with shelves, where tho hats and coats of the men can be put away, while tho wraps of tho ladies will be stored for the time in tho state dining room. It will be in tho blue room that President McKinley will receivo at such times. This has been the custom from time immemorial, and it will not bo changed. 1 doubt, however, wheth er Mrs. McKinley will bo able to be with biro. She is not at all strong, and she could not stand the wear and tear of an evening reception. It took all of Mrs. Cleveland’s vitality to enable her to carry out her part during her first years in the White House. I know of receptions at which she shook hands with at least riOOO people, and at which it seemed to me she gave a smile to each one and no two alike. Mrs. Harrison tried to save herself by not shaking hands, and at some of tie receptions she carried a bouquet in order to show tho people that she con’d not do this. Home think that it was tho care, overwork and worry of tho Whito House that killed her, and tho same is said to have caused tho death of tho first Mrs. Tyler and also of Mrs. Pillmore, although she survived, I believe, until a few weeks after she loft the Whito House. It was in the blue room that Mrs. Cleve land was married, and here she bade goodby to her guests and took the carriage with the President to the special car on the Baltimore and Ohio road, which was secretly waiting al most half a mile from the station to take the While House bride aud groom to tScir honeymoon cottage at Deer Park. Wintergreen Oil. * Distilling oil of wintorgreen is now carried on to a small extent in northern Maine, bnt recent news paper reports of its magnitude there are no doubt exaggerated. The bulk of all tho wintergroen oil coming on the market is still produced in Penn sylvania, while practically nil of the oil of birch, which is both chemically and commercially the samo thing, is .'.hipped from North Carolina.-—New England Homestead. CONTENT A PLEASUHE. Thors are no ills bat what we make By giving shapes and names to things; Which U the dangerous mistake That causes all our sufferings. O fruitful grief, the world’s diseosel And vainer man, to make it so. Who gives his miseries increase, By cultivating bis own woe! We call that sickness which is health, That persecution which is grace, That poverty which is true wealth, And that dishonor which is praise. Alas! our time is here so short, That in what so e’er ’is spent. Of joy or woe, does not impart, Provided it be innocent. But wo may make it pleasant, too, If wo will take our measures right, And not what heaven has done undo By an unruly appetite. Tbe world is full of beaten roads. But yet so slippery withal, That where one walks sceuro ’is odds A hundred and a hundred fall. Untrodden paths are then tho best. Where the frequented aro un-ure; And he comes soonest to his rest Whose journey has been most secure. It is content alone that makes Our pilgrimage a n’.ensuro ber *; And who buys sorrow cheapest takes An ill commodity too dear. —Charles Cotton. A DOMESTIC TRAGEDY. THE STORY OP A TEEEI’HONE. Persons represented: Mr. Paget. Miss Hyphen-Smith, 8c ne: A drawing-room in Miss Smith’s house, near New York. Ju the room, ou u stand against the wall, is a telephone. ISS S. (putting down • her book ami glancing at clock). “Nearly 3, and ho said that at 3 o'clock he would tele phone to me from New York. What can he want to any to me? I—I think—I am near- Miss S. (absently). “Oh, not at all. ” Mr. P. “Eh? I had no idea you had guessed my secret.” Miss S. “Secret? what secret? Ob, I beg your par Jon, I didn’t quite catch what you were saying.^ I -I was listening for the telephone.” Mr. P. (aside). “Confound the telephone.” Mias S. (aside, glancing anxiously at clock). “He said about three, and now it’s nearly twenty minutes past; surely he must ring me up soon.’l Mr. P. “Well, as I was going to say when tho telephone interrupted me, you will hardly have guessed why I came here to-day.” MissS. (archly). “Wasn’t it to see me?” Mr. P. “It was, my dear Miss Smith, and—” Miss S. (laughing). “And to hear the telephone?” Mr. P. “Apparently. But as I was going to say, it was to tell you—to— to—” (telephone bell rings. Miss S. rushes to it). “Curse the bell!” MissS. (at telephoto). “Yes; are j you there? What? is that you? Cap- tuiu Vavasour? What? Fish? what fish? I said salmon. What? Yes, salmon cutlets. W’bat? No, Ididn’t! I never said sausages! sausages in July! What? 1 can’t hear. Salmon cutlets —S-a 1-m o-n. Do you hear? Next time you take my orders, please send ' someone who isn’t deaf 1 (Rings off and sits down, fuming.) Mr. P. (dryly). “You must find that telephone a great comfort, I am sure. No drawing room should be without it.” Miss P. “I hope not, for the sake of your nervos and your—visitors.” MissS. “Oh, I am so sorry; of course it must be very provoking for you, but it isn’t my fault, is it? Now sit down and begin again; yon were going to tell me something very inter esting, I am sure.” Mr. P. (aside). “I’ll rrtako one more attempt, but if I can’t get my proposal out before that confounded telephone goes off again—I’ll give it up, once and for all.” (Aloud.) “My dear Mis-' Smith—Hyphen-Smith, I am a man of few words.” MissS. “Indeed?” (She listens with periuuetory attention, and every sign of impatience, her eyes on the ly sure it must be a proposal. He has I-phone, half starting irom her been so attentive ot late. I am sure no one can be less vain than I am, but there has been a look in bis eye, a tone in bis voice, that is quite unmis takable. (Looks fondly at telephone.) What a comfort it is to have a tele phone in one’s house! I really don’t know bow 1 ever existed without it. If a visitor drops in unexpectedly to dinner, and I want a nice little dish of cutlets, I ring up the butcher. If I feel a little low, and only a fried sole can tempt my failing appetite, I ring up the fishmonger. The grocer, tho butoher, the egg merchant, the livery stables—they are all on the telephone. (Clock strikes.) Ah, there’s the bell! (Rashes to telephone and speaks.) “Yes, are you there? Is that you, Captain Vava|onr? Yes; are you there?” no one there, and yet I hear someione and glknces at olook.)’ Just three. It was tbt clock striking, and I thought it wa#the telephone bell. (Sits—ring at tho bell—she jumps up.) There it is again! Oh, no; it’s the door bell this time (goes to window;, and there’s Mr. Pacet coming in—provoking! 1 should have said. “Not at home;” too late now, aud he must come in here; I can’t leave the telephone! Not that I don’t like Mr.' Paget; I like him very much. I might have prefened him to Captain Vavasour; but I have never seen any tendency in Lim to propose to me. Dear me, it’s very awkward to have a visitor in the room when I’m expecting a telephonic proposal, a; mean, to accept it, at the top of m voice! (Enter Mr. Paget.) Mr. P. (very nervons and flurried). “How do you do, Miss Smith?—beg vour pardon, Hyptfieu-Smith. Er—er lonely day, isn’t it?” Miss S. (shaking bonds with effu sion). “So glad to see you; here is your fayorite chair. Let me put your hat down in its accustomed corner.” Mr. P. (aside). “She is really a most charming woman. I wonder if she’ll bo surprised when I ask her to marry me* it’s a little difficult to lead chair ot everv sound that can suggest a bell.) Mr. P. “I don’t wear my heart upon ray sleeve, I keep it in it’s right place (aside) though it’s iu my mouth at this moment! (Aloud.) lam, as I said before, a mon of few words -re ticent, taciturn.” MissS. “Yes?” Mr. P. “Feeling a great deal, but never saying so—modest, retiring— perhaps you may think me too re tiring?” Miss S. “Oh, no! not at all!” Mr. P. “But a man cannot change bis nature.” MissS. “Of course not!” Mr. P. “I am sure I have kept my secret, that I have never given you reason to think—to imagine—that— in a word, |hat I—I—do I make my- se»t clear?’ “What is doesn’t he Mr. P. up to, but I like to get these awkward | herself.) OI», perfectly 1” "itAside.) j- H will be even more ex plicit.” (Telephone bell rings faintly; she starts up.) “Don’t go—it was the clock. In one word, Miss Smith, the feeling I have for yon is not friend ship.” Miss S. (her eyes on the telephone). “Oh dear, lam sorry to hear that! why--” Mr. P. “It is more! I ask you to be my—” (Bell rings loudly; she rushes to telephone.) “Confound the ! bell! That’s all over!” Miss S. (at telephone). “Yes? Are >u there? Are yon Captain—what? oak up, I can’t hear! Four wheeler? o, a Victoria. What? Got a fit? The horse? What? Not fit? Then why do you keep a Victoria that’s not tit to use!” (Rings off violently and sits down.) Mr. P. “This is too bad. Miss Smith. Let me tell yon, this is too much of a good joke!” (Bell rings again; she rushes to the telephone.) MissS. (attelephone). “Yes? What? Still on? Ring off? Why did you ever ring on?” (Shorings off viciously.) “Ah!” (She falls into a chair and fans stand. I can’t speak any lender. I’m shouting. Yes—oh, yes! what? yes, oh, yes! I have always felt a deet> interest in your happiness. (Aside.) Now it’s coming. What? What? I can’t hear you. What do you say? oh, yes, now I do! What? who? Miss who did you say? (her face lalls.) No. I rever met her. Does she live in New York? what? (she becomes vaguely alarmed.) What? Very what? oh! I’m not » judge of pretty girls. (Disgusted, and more aud more alarmed.) What f what say? Ah! glad you are in such good spirits. Yes? yes? something to tell me? (her face brightens.) Oh, yes; do! Yes? yes? oh, yes What? what? accepted you? what do you mean? what? what? did you say marry her? Ah! (she shrieks and drops re- ceiver). i have lost both! both! Oh, why did I ever have that abominable tele phone? (dhe drops, weeping storm- i y intoehur. Curtain descends upon her sobs.)—Frank Leslie’s Popu'ar Monthly. _______ Alaskan Curiosities. Professor L. L. Dyche, of the l di versity of Kansas, returned from Alaska on tho City of Topeka, and left last night by way of California for his home. Professor Dyche went to Cook’s Inlet especially in starch of natural history specimens. He as cended to the source of the Knik River with an organized expedition, which was a success although tho obstacles to he overcome were appalling. The native boatmen stripped and with ropes pulled the boat up the tutbulent river. Professor Dyche obtained specimens of a new mountain sheep, twelve imraeme tnoosebeads, caribou, sea otter, birds and other small ani mals. Ou July 17 Professor Dyche saw eight inches of snow fall, and on August 11 six inches fell. He saw three smoking mountains, and experi enced an earthquake. Ho found large coal ledoeH, but the coal was so soft that it could ho whittled with a knife. Professor Dyche said: “rhe country is one half made. It will be a good country when it is finished. The glaciers are slowly doing their work; the mountains pro smoking and the rivers are vomitting out quantities of quicksand. It is a new country. Let it alone, and some day it will be a good country.'’ Professor Dyche met Princess Tom, a famons Yakutat Princess, wealthy beyond all other Alaska Indians. She has $15,01)0 in gold twenties. On her right arm she wears five bracelets, eac^ hammered out of a gold twenty, and on her left arm sho wears ten bracelets, each made from a $10 gold piece. She has hundreds of blankets, sea otter skin-, etc.,' aud owns a fchooner and two sloops. Sho is sixty-five years old and has just ob tained her fifth husband, a man twenty years old for whom she paid 500 blankets. The Thlingin women manage the households and hold the puree. The relationships are traced bock through the mother’s side. It is, in fact, almost a savage realization of Lytton’s “Doming |iace.”—St. Louis Globe-Democrat. things over quick.” (Aloud, ner vous.) “Ahem—my dear Miss Smith —Hypen-Smitb—I—” (Telephonebell rings; sho rushes to it.) “Confound it, what’s that? what’s she doing?” Miss S. (at telephone). “Yes; are you there? What? Is that Captain Mr. who? lean t hear; speak louder. What? what? Six gross of screws? don’t keep screws. Who do yon want? No, I’m forty-six.” Mr. P. “Impossible!" MissS. “What? what? Well, an other time when yon want sixty-four don’t ring up forty-six.” (Rings in disgust and sits down.) Mr. P. “My dear Miss Smith, may I ask what that instrument of torture is, and why you arc shouting at it?” MissS. “Why, have you never •eon a telephone ?” Mr. P. “I suppose I’ve seen them “Where’s my it Mr. P. (furiously), hat? I’m going!” MissS. “Going? Why?” Mr. P. “Because I can’t stand any longer!” Miss S. “I’m sure I’ve done all the standing 1” Mr. P. “Don’t joke! it’s beyond a joke. Do yon know what T was going to say to you ?” Miss S. “The telephone didn’t give me a chance. ” Mr. P. (with venom). “No, it’s lost you a chance! Iwas going to ask yon off; to marry me—to marry me, do you hear?” Mies S. (starting up with out stretched hands). To marry me! Oh, Mr. Paget!” Mr. P. “No, it’s too late. I haven’t asked you, and 1 never will now ! (Her hands fall limply to her sides—she In offices, but I never met a—domesti- | listens in crushed silence.) Never will cated telephone—” (aside) “hope T never shall again.” (Aloud.) “I don’t eare for these new fangjed things; I’m tn old-fashioned billow. Don’t von find it a confounded nuisance?" Miss S. “No, indeed! It’s the greatest comfort I possess.” (Clock strikes; she jumps up, then sits.) Mr. P. “Don’t yon find it a little jumpy’? Bad for tho nerves, eh?” <MissS. “Not in tho least; most soothing.” Mr. P. (nervous). “My dear Miss Smith—Hyphen-Smith—you-yon will be surprised to hoar what brought me here to-day.” Miss S. (absently, looking at tele phone). “Cab, I suppose.” Mr. P. “You will be surprised to hear ” ■ 1 ask a | fool woman to marry me who is enough to domesticate a came | telephone in her drawing room! Good bye— I shall not call agai’:.” (He takes up his hat and depart-, smiling sardonically.) Miss S. (sinking into a chair), “Oh dear, oh dear, I’ve lost him! Why didn’t I guess what he wanted to say, but I couldn't think of anything with that dreadfnl bell always going. Oh, my head! I feel quite dazed! I be gin to think a telephone is a qualified blessing. (Telephone boll rings.) Ah! this time it must be he! (She rushes to tho telephone.) Yos? are you there? Is that Captain Vavasour? Yes—yos. You are very unpunc tual. What? can’t hear—what? she , ttm very un^mctusl? I don’t usder- burned away. ^JjptteTjiii.ifr «f * i The greatest voice'of Which there is any record or tradition abont Congress was possessed by George G. Byrnes, of Colorado. Symes, who was a good deal of a character, finally committed snicidc. He was an Ohioan by birth, but served in the Union Army through the war in a Wisconsin regiment, en tering as a private and coming out as a colonel. Most of his life after tho war was spent in the West in the Rocky Mountain region. From 1874 ho made his home in Denver, Col. He was a lawyer by profession and an ora tor noted for his great voice. Com pared with it the bellow of “the Ball of Basban” was.a gentle murmur. It was a deep, heavy bass, proceeding seemingly from cavernous depths. Asked one day abont the reputation his voice had given him, he replied : “Well, I’ll tell you about it,” and the words roiled ont in his deepest, heaviest bass. “Yon see I was out campaigning. I was addressing a Re publican audience at Silverton. Over at Oroville, twenty miles distant, the Democrats were holding a meeting. Along about nine o’clock there camo up one of the awful storms which oc cur in that mountain country. The wind howled like a million imps. It was especially bad at Oroville. The people showed signs of alarm, and acted as if they wanted to break up tbe meeting and leave the hall. The chairman, becoming anxious, rose to assure them. ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ he said, ‘do no be alarmed. There is a Republican meeting over at Silverton, and George Symes is addressing it. nc has just come to that portion of his speech whero he denounces the Mills Tariff bill, and the noise yon hear is the indistinct rambling of hU voice.’”—Washington Post. The .Needs of Indians Few. The Government has shown an ex traordinary generous spirit in appro priating $20U0 to bay provisions for the Yuma Indians this season. The Mesa Free Press says the magnanimity of this act will be apparent when it is remembered that there are 3000 In dians or more on the Yuma reserva tion. The economy of the Indians in the matter of food is prhverbial, and therefore it is quite likely that 3000 of them can feast comfortably on $2000 worth of provisions until, next croo time. Mine That Burns Perennially. John Elliott’s coal mine, at New Straitsville, Ohio, was set afire by strikers twelve years ago and was af terward abandoned. It is still burn ing. It has been discovered that un less tho fire is extinguished it wiil reach other mines, and will also let many houses drop into the fiery hole, the roof of which has been nrarly