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LADIES OF THE CABINET. They Get Along Well Together and Have Lots of Fun. Mrs. Cleveland’s Domestic Virtues. The Homes of the Cabinet Ladies Are Thoroughly American and En glish Butlers and French Cooks Find No Foothold There. (Copyright.) Washington, Aug. 18.—No one appre > Is les the power of the social element in optics so much as the wives of nominees or 0.1.ce. It is idle to say that women ba eno part in the government when all . e time this power behind the throne is at work upon the very vitals of the na tion Many’ a man has been sent to the legis lature because his wife is agoodcook, and there are whispers to the effect that Grover Cleveland would never have been re-elected had not his wife won so many friends by reason of the charming social qualities which she displayed during his first term. Be that as it mat, Washington society would not be what it is without Mrs. Cleveland and the ladies of the cabinet. In no city of the United States other than Washington could nine ladies be se lected from any social circle who would represent so many sections of the country. North, south, east and west, have each a place. The group is a fair typet>f Wash ington's official society. Not one of its members is a Washingtonian. Tiie Empire state is particularly well represented. Mrs. Cleveland, Mrs. La mont and Mrs. Bissell are all New York ers. In point of numbers, however, the south might be supposed to “hold the balance of power,” were it not that the • poise of the group is so equable that there is no suggestion of power. Mrs. Gresham is a native Kentuckian, although the old Kentucky home is but a memory of child hood, as her parents removed to Indiana in her early youth, and western associa tions have rather gained the ascendency over southern nativity in the formation of her character. Mrs. Carlisle still calls Kentucky home, notwithstanding her long residence In Washington. Mrs. Hoke Smith is a Georgian of the Georgians, and Miss Herbert is proudly claimed by Ala bama. The east and west have typical representatives in Mrs. Olney of Massa chusetts and Miss Morton of Nebraska. Although they are the acknowledged leaders of Washington’s official society, they are by no means giddy social butter flies. It is not an unusual circumstance, even in the hight of the social season, to encounter the cabinet ladies at market, and they go with a provident purpose and not merely for “fun.” The truth is that they have very little time for fun with out a purpose. They are, in fact, a circle of “homely women” in the good old-fash ioned sense of the phrase. Their social duties are performed with a grace that indicates pleasure in the performance, a. ' Mrs Mftrtnn M"' Oln ® y ' t * Gresham ’ ’ MrS ' Smith ’ Mrs. Bissell. Mrs. Morton. Mrs. Lamont. Mr?. Cleveland. Mrs. Carlisle. Miss. Herbert. but It is very evident to those that have ’ a privileged intimacy that Mrs. Cleve land and her social assistants find their greatest pleasure in their own homes. That they are ladies who delight to do each other honor is apparent from the round of strictly cabinet dinners and luncheons in which they have indulged • during the past season. The movement , was inaugurated by the regulation din ner which it has been customary for the President to tend to his cabinet ministers and their wives since the early days of I the republic. Each minister and his I wife reciprocated with a dinner in honor of the President and Mrs, Cleveland; the other members of the cabinet, with their respective wives and tho guests of their households being the only 'ones bidden to these feasts. Early in the sea son Mrs. Cleveland gave a lynch eon to the cabinet ladies, which was succeeded by a series of luncheons tendered by each of the others in town. At all of the white house receptions and at most of the state banquets, the cabinet ladies are in attendance to assist Mrs. Cleve land. The social functions commence with ! the public reception at the white house ■ on New Year’s day, which is attended by • whoever is so minded, provided always 1 that such persons are of decorous de meanor. The number availing themselves of the privilege swells to thousands, it is followed by a succession of receptions to which cards of invitation are issued, but which nevertheless, are each a crush. The cabinet ladies stand in line at the right of the President, and have a gra cious smile of welcome for each passing guest. Mrs. Cleveland gives a hearty handshake to each person, be he black, white or Iridian red, but a like cordial greeting on the part of the assistants wduld consume too much time, and time is a consideration on these occasions. From the Wednesday after the New Year to the commencement of the lenten season the cabinet ladies bold receptions in their own homes each Wednesday, to which the general public have the entree. Throngs attend these receptions. The members of the diplomatic corps, the Jus tices of the supreme court, senators, rep resentatives and the ladies of their re spective households are bound by official etiquette to be present at each of these receptions at least once during the season. Army and navy residents swell the lists of callers, which are rounded out to im mense proportions by transient visitors to Washington. The majority of the guests are sightseers and are personally unknown to the hostesses, who, if they find these heterogeneous receptions a try- • IS I tI ’ M Wjv H | Mrs. Grover Cleveland. (From her latest photograph.) ' V V ▼ WWW V wo ing ordeal never betray the fact, but "smile and smile,” and to all intents ate "delighted to meet” each new-comer. The public receptions are but an item of the social demands upon Mrs. Cleve land and her fair cabinet assistants. An interchange of visits, outside the cabinet circle, is not required of Mrs. Cleveland, but she responds to many appeals to ap pear as patroness of entertainments in behalf of charitable enterprises, and she is very courteous in according special ap pointments to ladies of the official circle who have visiting friends desirous ot being presented to her. Requests for these special receptions are very numer ous and her amiability in the matter has won her many admiring friends. The cabinet ladies are not exempt from making calls, although their “liability is limited.” Dinners, luncheons, musicales, ana merry-making of all descriptions are en rengle with them, in acknowledgment of entertainments tendered to them, and thev- have few moments during the sea son that they may call their own. Not withstanding the innumerable demands upon her time and attenfXT. Mrs. Cleve land devotes a portion or each day to her little daughters. She is a believer in out-door life for babies, and when they are at the white house little Ruth and Esther quite live in the private grounds. Rough winds and lowering skies seem to have no terrors for them; only actual stormy weather keeps them in doors. Mrs. Cleveland often runs out to assure herself of their well-being, and almost every day the President takes a few mo ments from work for a walk with Mrs. Cleveland and the babies in the white lot. After school hours the Lamont children frequently drive over in their pretty pony cart. The diminutive pony is evidently a trustworthy animal, for all the little ones climb into the cart together and have many a merry turn around the grounds. There is always a policeman on duty in the white lot when the children are there apd judging from the assiduous attention paid to them—and their attendant maids —the guardian of the peace detailed for that duty does not deem it an especial hardship. THE WEEKLY NEWS (TWO-TIMES-A-WEEK:) MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 1894. Mrs. Cleveland, Mrs. Lamont, Mrs. Bissel, and Mrs. Smith are all vonng mothers, and doubtless they find a few moments every time they meet to com pare the latest infantile achievements— or ailments—as the case may be. Miss Herbert, as the aunt of a much admired member of the Herbert household, the in fant son of her sister, Mrs. Micou, is not to be ignored in baby lore, and Mrs. Gresham, Mrs. Carlisle, and Mrs. Olney, having reared families of their own can listen to the baby talk with the com- placency born of the superior wisdom of experience, which wisdom, no doubt, is frequently called into requisition in the form of valued advice. With so many common and sympathetic interests the little circle has resolved itself into a group of warm friends, wherein a spirit of harmony exists not always to be found in purely' social circles. The homes of the cabinet ladies are as thoroughly American as are the fair dames who preside over them. English butlers and French cooks have not ob tained a foothold in any of them. In fact their mistresses rather pride themselves on maintaining the tradition and custom of the section of the country from which they come, in witness whereof are Mrs. Hoke Smith’s Georgia dinners, and Miss Herbert’s peep of Alabama life in her en tertainments. The Carlisles are the only members of the cabinet who own their residence. The Greshams have apart ments at a notel. The Herberts have a rambling, old-fashioned house, not qnite within the limits of tbe fashionable quar ter of the town, but -it is a charming home, nevertheless. There are many much more pretentious establishments in ashington than the homes of these rep resentative American women, but there are none in which the indications of good taste and refinement are more evident. The white house is far from an ideal abode, and it is certain that Mrs. Cleve land is much more comfortably, and. pre sumably, more elegantly installed in any of her numerous private residences than she is in the executive mansion. There is little opportunity for the display of indi viduality in the adornment of the rooms, and in the state apartment there is a sug gestion of a government institution a trifle at variance with artistic taste. The chiefesi charm of the old mansion lies in its historic associations. The last reunion of Mrs. Cleveland and her social assistants before the summer Sittings was when they were photo graphed . two days before Mrs. Cleveland departed for Grey Gables. The artist was singularly fortunate in the disposition of the gioupe and in catching a happy ex- pression on each face, and the photo graph has the unqualified approval of the verj’ many admirers of tnis “Groupe of Noble Dames.” The single picture of Mrs. Cleveland, made at the same time and therefore the latest that has been made, is pronounced by her friends to be be the best in existence. Harriet Henry. Before he was made a Baronet the physi cian of the Duchpss of York had an income of 475.000 a year. But it is said that he will now have an income of 4125,000. A QUEER CATCH. No Telling Whether It Was a Snark or a Guyascutus. From the Chicago Record. When business is dull S. J. Kuflewski leaves his drug store at 1333 West Twenty- Second street in charge of an assistant, puts on his old trousers and runs out to Mud lake for a little Ashing. Usually be is content with bullheads or sunfish, but yesterday afternoon he was after cray fish, otherwise known as crabs. He waded about in the'shallows, overturning stones and catching the shellfish in bis hands. He was trying to overturn a large stone in the hope of making a good ‘-find” when he felt a slimy something trying to wriggle from his grasp. Kuflewski man aged to hold the slippery creature and threw it on the grass. He looked at the catch with staring eyes. It was not a fish, nor was it a lizard but to all appearances a cross be tween the two. It was eighteen inches long and its body was about two inches thick. Its head was flat like a fish's and and the tail might also have belonged to a fish. Instead of fins it had four legs resembling a lizard’s. The ears were the most prominent part of the animal. There we six of them in all, flower shaped with petalous edges, fringed with a kind of grayish seaweed, which gave them a most odd appearance when in motion. The body of the animal was as lithe and slimy as that of an eel. The general color was dark stone gray on the upper side of the body, while the belly was light blue. After the druggist had recovered from his astonishment he carfully wrapped the creature in his handkerchief and brought it to the store. Soon the news of the capture spread and all the fishermen of that neighborhood came trooping into the store to tell Kuflewski what he had caught. But it baffled them. More than 400 persons saw the thing in the course of the afternoon and no one could say what it was. A MODERN MUSICALE. Bab’s Painful Experience at a Fin-de- Siecle Summer Resort. Five Dollars and Eighty-seven Cents Was All That Was Realized, and Yet Seven Ladies Stated Confidentially That Each Had Given a Dollar, and Several More That Fifty Cents Was Their Contribution—Children May Be Well Springs of Pleasure, but They Should Be Limited Wise Words to Mothers. At a Quiet Boarding House, The Olive Arms. Aug. 18.—It came about in the natural course of events that we should have what is known, as a musicale. By the by, I have always noticed that the less music there is the more earnest are the promoters of such schemes in calling it by the highest sounding name possible. Ours, it was announced, was to bring forth the talent of the house, and quite incidentally to take up a collection to buy coral beads and Bibles for the heathen. The promoter said that first of all we must have something to amuse the chil dren. As I have old-fashioned ideas on the subject of children, and believe that 7 o’clock should see them in bed, I didn’t altogether approve of this. But then I wasn’t running the affair. All I had to do was form part of the audience and give my donation. ' SHADOW PICTURES OF ALL THINGS. On the night of the musicale—it is re quested that you give a prolonged sound to the last syllable—it rained. The au dience arrived in rubbers, in traps of various kinds, and under umbrellas vary ing in age and size. They—the listeners —were somewhat difficult to seat, but after all of the children had been put in front, the remainder dispersed itself wherever its frocks would show best, or its young man be within nearest reach. We. were informed that we would be amused by some shadow pictures. This was a base fabrication from way back. We weren’t amused at all. The chil dren were all frightened, a looking-glass was broken, and I think the girl who is going to get the seven years’ bad luck, deserves it, because she was the insti gator of the aforesaid pictures. I never can understand why women will go out of the way to make monkeys of them selves.' In many instances the good Lord has saved them the trouble. But that a presumably sane person of the sex known as fair should indulge in horse-play, and make a general donkey of herself, con vinces me more than ever that a limited suffrage is what we need. After the pictures had done their worst we were told that LITTLE MARGUERITE MOROCCO 1 would play for us. Marguerite, I may mention, i’s a long-legged specimen of about 12 years. In looking at her, you are conscious of only two things—one is her mouth and the other is her legs. Her legs have a fashion of running riot all over the place, and whenever a child is missing, or there is a search for a lost dog, people look first for these legs, and then trace up whatever is gone. It is said that a large mouth is an evidence of great affection; if that is true. Marguerite will love all her fellow creatures, and everything that is alive, for her mouth, like a clamshell in shape, extends placidly from one ear to the other, and when she yawns vou won der if she swallowed a baby. The chil dren all applaud her appearance, and the future female Paderewski was heard in an undertone to tell one of the boys to “Shut up!” Then she began. She gave us “Daisy Beil” with many variations, and when this was applauded, began to play something that sounded like the scales: here she broke down, and had to be conducted out in tears because a boy was making faces at her. We liked Mar guerite, but only as a memory. THE TALE OF A DUET. The next on the list was one of those beautiful love songs, dedicated exclusively to two people who are wrapped up, meta phorically, in each other. In this case the young woman, who was rather fair to look upon, was joining her voice to that of a young man who looked neither fair nor brave. He wasn’t quite as tall as she. but what he lacked in bight he made up in mustache; this was thick, stubby and greased with something that, even at a distance, smelt like sassafras. His hair was parted on one side, and a curly lock reposed on his manly brow, and these two loved each other. They sang off the same sheet of music, and this was about the way the song went. The piano would go “Tin kle. tinkle tinkle,” and then in a very high voice she responded to it by singing, “Love, love, love.” and he would come in very deep and answer with “Heart, heart, heart.” Sometimes it would be varied, and the piano would be very deep, she would go low as if she were sobbing, be would go high as if he were yelling, “Fire,” and then somebody in the audience would say, “That is real music.” Everybody felt so much interested in this performance, that an encore resulted, and then he sang something alone about a gal lant lover who died for her, and she came in on the chorus about a noble maid who lived for him. Whichever way you fix it, she got the better, because she could live and be a widow, while he would be where he expressed such a desire to go—in the cold ground. "VOGNER” AND LEMONADE. Then we had a selection on the violin— I must mention that we have a great deal of home talent. I haven’t anything against the young man that played the violin—he was graduated at Princeton, and is studying medicine—but I did feel sorry for the fiddle itself. He made it squeak and howl and bring out frightful yells, and act altogether as if it were pos sessed of various demons. Then when he got through, he said the piece was by Wagner. He called it “Vogner,” which, of course, showed at once what a great musician he was, and how little we knew. After this there came lemonade. It was needly sadly. I never before knew just how much a small boy could take. One. to my certain knowledge, drank seven turn olers empty, and I never saw him return the glass, consequently lam forced to believe that he swallowed it. It is a dreadful thing to see a magnificent thirst like this wasted on a small boy. The remainder of the programme was literary. A lady who doesn’t believe in corsets, or anything that is frivolous, cheered us -by reading a poem called “The Hearse,” calculated to harrow the feelings of any mothers present, and to give nightmares to nervous women. For tunately for me I can say, as Sidney Smith did, that, though 1 may ride an occasional nightmare. I don’t keep a sta ble of them, so I was spared. Then the wit of the house, the funny man, told an ecdotes and Conundrums, and made us more conscious of the fact that he had been born out of his time, and that he ought to have lived when even stupid fools were accepted at courts. After this came the collection. It was a curious thing, but everybody hid what they nut in. .Nobody wished to make another feel badly if she couldn’t give as much as her neighbor. To my certain knowledge seven ladies said confidently that each had given a dollar, a number told me that they had given 50 cents, and yet when the money was counted there was only $5.87 for the coral beads and Bibles. I don’t pretend to understand it, but then Iw as never good at arithmetic. After the collection we RETURNED TO THE PIANO, and a lady who keeps it in order by prac ticing all day gave us a selection. I never heard where it was from, but a young man near me said that Dante heard it just before he returned to Florence, while he was visiting in a place that po lite people don’t mention. This lady played all over. Her body shook, her feet worked first on one pedal and then 09 the other, her hands danced up and down, and the piano shook as if fright ened out of its senses. We all felt that this was high art, and when the per former made her bow, the audience ap plauded rapturously, and every woman took an opportunity later on to say to the fair goddess of music. “I enjoyed it so much I could not give you vulgar ap plause.” And she smiled and bowed as if she had never heard this said before. At last the musicale ended, and we went to bed, and an hour later I heard two old darkies singing some plantation songs, ana the amount of feeling they threw in the words, and the sweetness of their voices, would not, I am afraid, have been as much appreciated by the performers of the musicale as it was by me, yet it brought tears to my eyes. WHY THERE WERE NO TABLEAUX. Before the musicale there had been a thought of having tableaux, but, owing to the fact that every girl in the house wanted to stand with her best young man in the pesition of the “Huguenot Lovers,” it had to be given up. Un doubtedly, it would have been interesting to have had a succession of the same pictures, though it might have proved to be monotonous. One wicked young man was more than anxious to do it, for, as he put itj, he wanted to see how many different kinds of a fool young men in love could make of themselves. Getting up entertainments at summer places is about as thankless a job as any one ever undertook. In the first place, the number of infant prodigies who are will ing to exhibit is wonderful, and the num ber of indignant mammas who announce that they will leave the house unless their children are in the show is equally great. Certainly, it is beautiful to see young people, especially very young ones, devoted to music and literature, but one can’t but wonder why they don’t try their ability on AN AUDIENCE OF DOGS rather than on one of human beings. Because my baby daughter happens to drum out a popular tune on the piano, and my son and heir accompanies her on the mouth organ, is that any reason why I must indict their accomplishments on my neighbor? If a visiting niece of 10 is given over to saying smart things, shall my day be spent in retailing them to my neighbor who is interested in her novel? Have you, or I, or anybody else any right whatever to foist bad music, worse sing ing and tiresome stories on the world at large? Not the slightest. Your children or mine are interesting to us, but unless they are quiet and polite and kept out of the way, the world at large finds them very troublesome. That a mother should love her child and feel proud of her is onlj r human, but that she should expect every other woman to share her feeling is ridiculous. Children cease to be children and cease to be lovable when they are developed into bores by being put on exhibition. Os course, it, is the mothers who are to blame; but the world does not always stop to consider that. OH, FOB REALLY GOOD CHILDREN. I like a good child, but rather than see one that is connected with me bother peo ple by asking questions, giving them headaches by banging on the piano, or making them wish that poets had never lived by giving recitations, I would con duct that child upstairs and out-Herod Herod by cutting its head off. Undoubt edly a child is a well-spring of pleasure; but the world at large, off for the sum mer, wishes, very often, that that spring was dry. Teach children to be polite, to be happy and to be children; not inter ested in what their elders are saying, not tiresome prigs or juvenile gossips, but healthy, happy children. That is the sort you like, isn’t it? And that is the variety admired by Bab. A SSAKfnr HIS TROUSERS. Did Not Care to Occupy Them With a Deadly Copperh ad, • From the Philadelphia Record. Woodbridge, N. J., Aug. 10.—David Ayres of this place had a thrilling expe rience last night, which he will not for get to his dying day. For the past week he has been engaged in painting the barn of Peter Nelson, at Ford’s Corners, three miles from here. At noon he took off his trousers and donned a pair of overalls. The trousers were thrown carelessly on a pile of hay. When he returned to the barn at night fall to don his trousers he was some what surprised to find something ob structed his progress. He gave a fierce tug. and was horror-struck to see a large copperhead snake poke his head out of the waistband. He got out of the trousers as quickly as possible, and lied, calling for help. The snake disappeared in the hay, and later when. Nelson went ottt to the barn, he found his pet spaniel. Tip, lying dead. The dog nad attempted to drive the snake out and had lost its life. The body was swollen to abnormal ske from the egects of the poison. JOKES OF THE SIGNERS. While Adding Their Names to the Deo laration the Continentals Laughed. From the Chicago Herald. The signing of the declaration of inde pendence was a solemn act. The signers were subjects of King George, and their act was treason. If the king could hdve caught them he would have hanged them every one, and this they knew; but, ac cording to the traditions that have come down to us. this knowledge did not deter certain of them from relieving the solemnity of the occasioh with the nat ural flow of their wit and humor. The remarks attributed to them are not ex actly authenticated by history, but they are too good to be believed. It is said that when John Hancock affixed his bold autograph he remarked: “The English men will have no difficulty in reading w^en Franklin signed, he said, “Now, we must all hang together or , U hang separately,” and that Charles Carrollof Carrollton, when asked why he wrote his place of residence, re pliea that there was another Charles Carroll and he didn’t want them to hang the wrong man. The most enthusiastic advocate of the great measure and the one who led the debate in its support was John Adams of Massachusetts, and when the declaration was adopted he wrote to his wife in these prophetic words: “This will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America; celebrated by descending gen erations as the great anniversary festival, commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty; solemnized with pomps, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and il luminations from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward, forever.” Os all eloquent words uttered regard ing the declaration of independence by the orators of the generations which have succeeded its inception no more im pressive sentence was ever spoken than one pronounced by Ralph Waldo Emer son in an address delivered in Boston during the civil war. Referring to a con temptuous characterization of the declara tion by a certain political speaker ha said: “We have been told that the decla ration of independence is a glittering generality; it is an eternal übiquity.” Among America's later statesmen no one entertained a more exalted regard for the declaration, or more persistently emphasized its important relation to leg islation, than Charles Sumner. He al ways held that the constitution should be interpreted in the spirit of the declar ation. He said: “The declaration of in dependence has a supremacy grander than that of the constitution, more sacred and inviolable, for it gives the law to the constitution. Every word in the consti tution is subordinate to the declaration. The declaration precedes the constitu tion time and it is more elevated in char acter. The constitution is an earthly body, if you please; the declaration of independence is the very soul itself.” 'A HORSE THIEF IN PETTIOOATB. After Many Escapes “Tom King” Is Captured in Kansas. From the Philadelphia Record. Guthrie, O. T., Aug, B.—After many jail breakings. Mrs. Flora Mundis, alias “Tom King,” the notorious female horse thief, has been captured at Fredonia, Kan. There are a score of charges against her, and Gov. Lowe has issued requisition papers on Gov. Lewelling of Kansas. “Tom King” is a handsome young lady of about 22 years, with a voice like the dove and an eye that knows no deceit. She is a quarter-blood Cherokee Indian, and many relatives live near Springfield, Mo. Her operations in the territory have been extensive and her captures frequent, but she has never been brought to trial. About a year and a half ago she was arrested for complicity in the Wharton train robberies, after being held in the Guthrie jail some time, unaccountably escaped. A while later she was held in the Oklahoma City jail and thence es caped. For three months of last year she was in the new jail of Canadian county, and her trial was to have taken place in the district court in December. • A few nights before the day fixed for trial, however, she walked out the door of the jail dressed in her ordinary female clothing. Outside of the door the skirts disappeared and a good-looking man, ap parently, bestrode a convenient horse and rode safely out of town. The deputy sheriff disappeared at the same time and is believed to have helped her to escape. Sixteen to One. The Dalton (Ga.) Argus tells of one family in Georgia that believes in the coinage of woman at the ratio of 16 to 1. Os seventeen children, sixteen are girl* and one is a boy. Mrs. Youngblood (to orchestra leader at summer hotel)—What was that long, dreary thing you just played? Leader-Dot vas vrom Vogner. Mrs. Youngblood—lt was not pretty. Leader—ld vas not indended to be Harlem Life. Those Needless Questions.— Briggs—Hello, Wilkins, mowing your lawn? Wilkins—Tut! Os course not. This la my safety razor, and I’m cutting coupons with it.”—Harper’s Weekly. MEDICAL THEY DO?!’T ACREE. fiat. JF Pond’s Extract— Jersey Mosquito—, small size. Have ’em small size. Have ’eta bigger. For much bigger. INSTANT RELIEF from Sting of mosquito ; from BITES Heat of SUNBURN IT IS —— —, >um The universally rec- COOLINC ognized Specific for REFRESHING PILES. (Seedirection. HEALING with bottle.) For all External Wounds and Inflamed Surfaces a Wonderful r Healer. . Bathe the Aching Head or the Swollen Feet with POND'S EXTRACT. What comfort! • When the mosquitoes send substitutes to do their work, then use something else “just as good ’’ in place of Pond's Extract. But when the mosquitoes come themselves, use nothing but genuine Pond’s Extract. Made only by Pond’s Extract Co., 76 Fifth Ave., N.Y. 7