monotony of the public receptions, and levees, which of course she holds with as much regard for popular feeling as ever Mrs. Robert Tyler displayed.
The White House has undergone few changes of late years, except in furnishing. Entering the main door-way, you find yourself in a spacious vestibule, where there are always attendants in waiting who understand their duties thoroughly and treat every one with respectful attention. Directly the visitor's business is understood, the attendant ushers him, according to the nature of his errand, either to the public offices or to the private reception-room beyond the fine glass screen protecting the vestibule, as it is called, from the private hall, and shutting off the public from the personal portion of the dwelling. The ante-room for official visitors is up-stairs, to the left of the public staircase, a commodious and bright apartment, wherein those waiting for responses to business demands may be seated. Below this is the famous East Room, which the first lady of the White House devoted to laundry purposes, which Mr. Monroe's children used as a play-room, and which later was developed into the gorgeous apartment now open to visitors for certain hours of the day and used as a public drawing-room. Beyond the glass screen a corridor of fine proportions terminates in the conservatories at one end, the Green Room at the other. The Blue Room and Red Room are en suite, all three rooms having been upholstered, decorated, and furnished most artistically. The Red Room, used as a reception-parlor by the ladies of the family, presents the usual evidences of home life, with the elegance in finish and ornamentation now so common in American households. The Blue Room is a triumph of artistic decoration, a silvery net-work on the blue ceiling and rich hues in the furnishings and few ornaments of the room impressing the beholder with an idea of splendor. In the Green Room beyond, the tones are more subdued, and, as tropical plants and natural flowers are profuse on all sides, the general effect is very beautiful. Above the Blue parlor is the Oval Room, which Mrs. Cleveland occupies as a family sitting-room, and which is large and finely furnished. There are only seven sleeping-rooms: so that at present no place exists for the proper reception and entertainment of foreign visitors. The cheerless aspect of the Executive mansion has long since vanished, and something like home life within its walls is possible.
The state dinners occurring at certain intervals are still more or less public. These occur in the large dining-room beyond the Red Room. Directly the hall is the family dining-room, charmingly furnished, which witnesses a pleasant party for the eight-o'clock breakfast, the mid-
