Show r HOMES OF PUBLIC META MET-A LOOK AT GRASSLANDS AND ITS ANTIQUE FURNITURE A Magnificent Clock and Old Mahogany Hall Sent Tho Parlor and Its Fireplace Fire-place Secretary Whitney at Kent Pris cilla Mrs Whitneys Four Homes Special Correspondence WASHINGTON April 11 I society I I soci-ety again shows signs of active life Lent and fasting has passed and tho days of feasting have begun Among = tho chief features or I the next few weeks will bo the series of I F receptions and dinners iei din-ners which Mrs Secretary Whitney j D Hill give at Grasslands DW Grass-lands They will 0 be largely attended and will make this I old country farm CRASSLcDS for the time the V center of the court society of the United n Suites Grasslands is within a stenos throw of Oak View the presidents country coun-try home It lies upon some of the highest i high-est ground of tho District of Columbia and is composed of 103 acres of rolling land Tho Whitney house is at the opposite side of the farm from the presidents and the front o1 doors of the two homes are perhaps halt a mile apart The presidents property consists con-sists of only twentyeight acres and bo paid z for it nearly three times a much an acre ac 11 Whitney did for his Whitneys whole property prop-erty cost him only 30000 but it i now worth fully 100000 and would bring that under the hammer Tho house itself i a rambline brick structure painted white with many rooms on tho ground floor It i far d better than tho average farm house about V Washington and Secretary Whitney I hn mado it one of tho pleasantest countryseats country-seats in the district It has still around it the barns and outhouses of the t7 generous bars outhoue ordinary J I or-dinary farm and some of the old negro cabins cab-ins still stand A wide drive leads from the Tunlaw road up to the house which i i very unpretentious in appearance The entrance door is plain but the interior i a continuous Tvonder of old fashioned and r fahioned elegance ad comfort com-fort Mrs Whitney ba taken this old farmhouse farm-house and made it into one of the most restful rest-ful homes imaginable One of the little rooms at the back has been turned into a hal or vestibule and a generous hal it i About twelve feet square it floor is of Georgia pine the grain of which shows out through a coat S f shellac varnish with such a polish on it that you can ulniost see your face in it Entering his hall either side of is old fash t i IlB on you i a fah ioned mahogany hull seat inlaid with bra nl having a solid back and sides of comfort nule proportions A strip of Turkish rug U i lies between these and directly in front of J you and leading on into a second hal there i a door the stone stop of which i worn low u it lithe tread of many generations Over this door a magnificent pair of antlers lookdown look-down upon you and at its left a brass faced old Dutch clock taller than the tallest man I shires out of its mahogany case and solemnly ticks a welcome I you enter on the hour its gong like strike will hold you by it music At the side of this dock there is another pair of antlers standing on the tops of their horns and leaning against the wall These antlers have many largo branches and the whole i so tall that it reaches nearly five feet from the floor Mrs Whitney uses this a a hat and shawl rack and upon it hang shawls of different colors Passing through this door I 9 we come into another hal in which two old mahogany chairs of antique shape stand a sentinels and into which on either side opens a generous door leading to the parlor and the 1 dining room At the end of this hal there i a door which looks out upon a hilly lawn or park shaded by forest trees and opposite this within the hall the stairs which lead hal are stir le by H ri gradual flights t the upper store The parlor is largo and comfortable It I ha many windows giving beautiful views U and its central object i tho big fire of soft coal which blazes in a curiously shaped iron grate The mantel about the fIe i of J f LLIci l 1 ami I per i 75o SECRETARY WHITNEY AT REST I wood paint white and delicately carved and ovor this rest three of those long old fashioned mirrors which look out between tho partitions of a long richly carved gold r frame The fireplace i framed in bra A lluted Corinthian brass pillar stands at each tl50 side and over these i stretched a brass roof so that tho whole might be taken for a miniature temple of the fire worshipers On the top of each pillar however rests the emblem of America ou national eagle in brass The fender below surrounds 20c the whole fireplace It i of carved brass with curious legs and the brass floor within it throws back the rays of the fro a they ta and upon it Around this fire stand many easy chairs upon the Turkish rug which covers the floor Directly in front of it lies a little three anil foot square bright colored rug of rags which i looks a though it might b home made and on one corner of the mantel i suspended a flat nml pin ball made of yellow satin and black velvet in patches and hung upon the mantel by two lpn r strings one of which I yellow satin and the I 4 black ribbon other black velvet ribbon The furniture of this room i a combination of the antique and the modern The modern part of it i made of wicker beautifully gilded and upholstered in brocaded silk or gide satin There are wicker tables chairs and sofas and I noted upon those some pretty pieces of fancy upn each of which had the sofa pillows of doubtless some history One pi Inch lows had a crazy path work cover and the most curious things to me among the furniture were the little foot stools made of wicker and cushioned silk looking for all the world like inverted work baskets made into pin cushions ortli In the whole furniture however there is not one uncomfortable or stiff looking orth piece and it i plain to bo seen that no effort has been made at furnishing the house for anything else than comfort its The easiest chair i that of the secretary which i placed beside the table near the fira It i a old fashioned high backed wide armed affair covered with a highly flowered cretonne and cushioned on every sde Sitting in it there is no possibility of i psibit any draught touching its occupant and one could sleep in it without trouble Its back reaches high above the head of the sitter and he can loll to either side and strike nothing but cushions Its arms seem to wrap the sitter like a gar g ment and it would mae a good courting chair for it i wide enough for g In th ti chair thasecretary often sits of an evenln if IT 1 hard day at the office He cocks b fWc upon one of these Dicker footstool cuss ions leans his head against the soft back an amuses himself by looking over the carict lures which the illustrated papers publLJ onrcrning him The dining room is at the other side of tb hull Like the parlor it is heated by an opeti lire hut here instead of a grate there is ai oM fashioned fireplace and logs of wood or ianijng a pair of brass upon andirons lii r nvcos to the right there is an inlaid sidcboan of mahogany and whitewood and upon this stands a copper teakettle a hot water pot and a tall coffee urn of brass The dining table is of solid mahogany an old piece which look as though it might have come over in the Mayflower and the dining chairs arc widt enough to seat Barnums fat woman and like the table they are of quaintly carved ma hogany Just off the dining room Secretary Whitney has a little office with a case as yet unfilled with books and a desk which does not look as though it were overrun with work There are four bedrooms in the house and nearly every room in the whole structure has an open fireplace The furniture of the whole is old fashioned and some of the beds ore of French brass The kitchen is an old fashioned one with a modern range big enough for a r A ANTLERS AND CLOCK hotel and here it i that Priscilla reigns Piiscilla i the mistress of Grasslands during dur-ing Mrs Whitneys absence She i a comely colored girl dressed in black with a apron and cap of the whitest She was for a longtime long-time the servant of an old Maryland family and she has lived for many years in Paris She talks French and she is very populur with those members of tho legations whom Mrs Whitney entertains Grasslands is always al-ways open t visitors and though Mrs Whit 1103 cal spend but little time here herself Priscilla a directions to give all who come the hospitalities of the place There i a lunch on the sideboard during the afternoon md fresh milk and wino are to b had at all times Priscilla takes pride in her office of-fice and she is a jewel among servants In this house Mrs Whitney has shown what can be done with old furniture I doubt not these antique chairs and tables have cost fully a much as fine articles of more modern make But Mrs Whitney bought them in a hurry The man who is on the lookout for good things and can afford to wait could have picked them up for much less It i said here that her purchases of old pieces have run into the thousands of dollars and tho most of her treasures she ha found among the antiquar tans of Washington M Whitney can afford to pay high prices however She ha a brother who i twelve times a millionaire 1 father whose check i good for 1000000 any day and she has a nice little fortune in her own right Her brother who died a ea or two ago left more than 1000000 and it i my impression that n good part of it went to her Secretary Whitney is worth some money in his own right and as a New York lawyer he had a very large income The Whitneys are about a well off for homes and comforts in the United States They as any family Unit Stt riey have a magnificent house in New York which i > I understand more elegantly furnished than the one in Washington and I a told thut tho elegant things in the Washington city house are i merely the overflow over-flow of tho New Jew York mansion I Then they have property in Lenox Viss where Als Whitney goes to spend the summer and which place she ha mado so fashionable j fash-ionable Their f II I Washington house f j lies a bal room nsf J if P largo as the aver 1 j ago city hull and I I I though they merely I route the house they added this ballroom I ball-room at nn expense of several times PRISCILLA PRCILL 10000 for their own convenience The i newspaper statements in regard t such improvements are generally larger than the actual cost but the newspapers said at the time that this newsapr room of Whitneys cost him 0 His Now York house is said t have cost 750000 Grasslands as I have said i worth 100000 and tho property at Lenox would doubtless brig a good round sum Then M Io 1 mtnoy has her brothers home at Cleveland Cleve-land to go to Oliver Payne keeps bachelor quarters in the old homestead where ho amI Mrs Whitney were bon and just next door is tho magnificent stone mansion of Mrs Whitneys father Senator Payne who has noting in tho world that he likes better than h daughter Flora Among the most remarkable features in these various homes of Mrs Whitney are the art works which hang upon the wall In all the houses she has beautiful beauti-ful picture and in her big reception room at Washington there are some paintings which would do honor t almost any gallery Then is an original of Millets Sower which ha i been engraved in s many different forms and which was spoken of in The Century article on Millet a one of h finest works At Grasslands some very fine photographs and pictures hang upon the wall and in the Washington city house there are several tapestries some of which are I believe of Gobelin make FRANK G CARPENTER |