House & Garden 
There is a dado as high as the window-sills, 
and tall panels and fluted pilasters support¬ 
ing delicately enriched entablature, all in the 
sumptuous but repressed neo-classic Italianate 
refinement, which belongs to the date of the 
house. There is much carving and stucco 
elaboration of architectural mem¬ 
bers, and there are panels in low 
relief, with nymphs and goddesses 
in postures of classic repose. The 
long sweep of the ceiling is broken 
into three panels of plaster relief 
within a strong border of heavier 
projection. The ceiling has been 
left white. The wood-panelled 
walls are all finished in white, of 
an enamelled surface. The three 
great lustres and the sconces and 
candelabra are of firegilt and 
crystal; the floor is of oak, the 
hangings and furniture of golden 
tone and of, so to say, monumental 
forms. Only the four great fire¬ 
places seem out of key as to color. They 
are in native marbles from several states, and 
sing no more harmoniously together than did 
the sections they represent in the early days 
of our history. 
A grand piano stands in the East Room 
now, and a most amazing piano it is—all gilt, 
or, at least, of gold leaf, with spread eagles 
on its legs. The public is not allowed to 
view its ivories, for it is a gift instrument. 
But all gold; think of it! The architects 
might be jealous, could they see the crowds 
lingering in awful delight about this wonder, 
with no eyes for the glorious room. The 
attendants hurry the people to gaze upon 
it. It is their great card. “It cost fifteen 
thousand dollars,’’ they say, and is held the 
most splendid thing of all that has happened. 
The southward doors from the East Room 
THE EAST TERRACE FROM THE NORTH 
open into the smaller Green Room. Here 
the walls are hung in stuff' of a pleasing strong 
texture and of good color tone,—a pale gray 
green. Things come out well against it. 
The ceiling, the woodwork and the furniture 
are in white—except the mahogany doors 
and the floor of basket-patterned oak. There 
is a delicate mantel of white marble, on 
gaines with pretty female heads, and with 
Greek ornament. Portraits of Presidents are 
on the walls, but they are not in every case 
an adornment, for many of these canvasses 
are of a solid mediocrity which grows monot¬ 
onous. The White House lacks 
pictures; it has need of more art 
objects generally. There should 
be some historical pictures on its 
walls, among others, but not of 
the sort which Congress usually 
commissions. Some water colors 
of the old-fashioned sort, some of 
those charming old tinted prints 
and dainty mezzotints of the end 
of the eighteenth century and the 
beginning of the nineteenth, some 
good bronzes and important 
porcelains, not too many, would 
add to these rooms a more livable 
look. And, incidentally, one 
might venture to suggest that 
THE EAST TERRACE FROM THE SOUTH 
