Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1878 — Washington Celebrities on the Road. [ARTICLE]

Washington Celebrities on the Road.

Nowhere in the world arc there better pavements for driving within the city limits, and in the country round about are some delightful drives, which are well patronized on pleasant days, and one may meet in the hours between the close of business and dark nearly all the notables of official and social Washington. President Hayes and his wife are seldom prevented from taking their daily drive between four and seven o’clock, and only in the most stormy weather are they missed from the boulevard. The President's horses were a matter of mpeh concern during the first few months of his administration. Rogers bought them of a livery-stable keeper in Alexandria, and, as is usual, was imposed upon. They wore ill-matched, ana were a disgrace to the Nation—a hundred hacks in Washington were drawn by better pairs. Last fali, however, after suffering much ridicule, the President authorized the purchase of another pair, and kri educated horseman procured them for him in Kentucky. They arc handsome, well* matched, easy-traveling grays. President Grant, as almost everybody knows, used to drive a four-in-hand, before a dog-cart, and it was a familiar sight to see him.sitting ou the box, with his habitual cigar, thriving them into the countrv, Grant was averso to making himself conspicuous. He drove for the pleasure of it and not for show, and was never found on the fashionable streets with liis four-in-liand, but alwaystook a back street until he came to the well-traveled country road. Grant’s skill as a horseman is National, and it required an accomplished driver to manage his team. Senator Coukling drives a fine, large black horse, widen* he calls “Donglass,” before a light, narrow, Brewster buggy, and generally - alone. When the Senate adjourns, “Douglass” is generally waiting for his master at the east front of the Capitol, and takes a stretch of six or eight miles before dinner. Senator Burnside drives a handsome pair of bays, large and fast, to a sort of Irish jauntihg-car, and is fond of havr Ing a young lady by his side. Senator Cameron has quite a stud of horses and good taste iu matters of equipage. His favorite “outfit” is a dog-cart, a pair of last bays be has, and hls'daughter by his side. Miss 5 Cameron is an accomplished horsewoman, as is Miss Bayard also. 1 , T-h® l Russian-Minister has. a maroriioth pair of bays, with a grijat," lumbering chariot, on which are .sore ad. foe coats-of-arms of bis owh andmis wife’s' family. He and Mine. Shiskiu are very unassuming people, and put on less style than any of the other foreigners. They are to be seen walking every day, plainly- dressed, and she stops to kiss little children that she meets in the streets. Having kissed them, she runs after her husband and jabbers Russian at Tiim till he smiles and looks back at the child his wife has kissed. ’ They h&ve a family of little ones of their own, and for their use the carriage is mostly devoted. The foreign Ministers all have stylish-turn-outs, and, during Lent especially, are on the drives every pleasant day. Sir Edward Thornton has a' handsome pair of clipped chestnuts, which he drives, before an elegant bardiche, but he generally prefers .walking himself, and is one or the ipost inveterate pedestrians in Washington. His • walkingshoes are a curiosity. The soles are broad and bevelled in the English style, and are fully half an inch thick. The uppers are of goat skin, tied with leathern thongs.

Sec’y Sherman takes his daily drive in an open carriage, drawn by two ordina-ry-looking horses. Every day about four o’clock, if it isn’t too stormy, you can see Mrs- Sherman waiting for her husband, at one of tho entrances to tho Treasury Department, and as ho is very methodical, nis appearance at the door every day is. as regular as tho clock strikes four. Corcoran, the banker and philanthropist, drives a pair of small, jogging bays before a comfortable carriage, swinging very low to the ground, which was made at his order because his rheumatic limbs refuse to enter a high carriage. Senator Morton’s old coupe is missed from the streets. Every day of his lifo in Washington it could ho seen standing cither at the EbbilL House, or at the White House, or tho Capitol, or some one of the Departments, and it carried him faithfully for many years. It was low, the box roacliing. down to within an inch or so of the curbstone, and was made expressly for him. It was scratched and' battered and .worn, and tho horse ho drove before it was one of the forlornest specimens of animal life that was ever seen. Tho harness was old and rusty, and the repairs it had undergone were well advertised. Mr. Morton had a peculiar antipathy for anything pro tentious—it was almost affectation with him, as it was with Lincoln—and no One could ever induce him to get his coupe varnished or trade his old crowbait off for a horse. One day his driver left him and ho engaged a new one. The first time the new man made hiß appearance he wore a livery he had brought from his former service, but Mr. Morton would not enter the carriage until the nogro hail taken off tho rosette from his hat and put on a suit of ordinary clothes. He used to say that livery was a badge of servitude. Fernando Wood drives a mammoth pair of bay horses, with a gold-mounted harness covered all over with his monogram. His carriage is a lumbering evidence of respectability.— Washington Cor. Bvfalo Commercial.