ANNAPOLIS -- For his entire political career, Gov. William Donald Schaefer has kept very careful track of whom he considered naughty or nice.
Yesterday, presiding over his last annual Governor's Mansion holiday open house, the governor shook his head at the sentimentality that poured forth for him -- a temperamental, colorful character leaving elective office after nearly 40 years in the fray.
Everyone was nice.
"Except one guy, he was trying to be funny, he said, 'I want to see my taxpayer dollars,'" Mr. Schaefer said, gesturing around the mansion he and Maryland's official hostess Hilda Mae Snoops have restored -- and explaining that none of it was paid for with taxes.
Mr. Schaefer and Mrs. Snoops, his longtime companion, had welcomed about 1,670 guests by the time aides closed the doors at 4 p.m. yesterday -- the largest showing since the first open house the two-term governor conducted after taking office, according to press secretary Joseph L. Harrison Jr.
Visitors were treated to cookies and punch and a tour of the first floor of the mansion, where several Christmas trees were decorated with angels, doilies and graceful needlepointed birds. They remarked over newly hung portraits of Mr. Schaefer and Mrs. Snoops by artist Joseph Sheppard, an Owings Mills native, as the St. Mary's College Chamber Singers sang Christmas carols.
In the front hall hung two quilts given to the pair several months ago.
Mr. Schaefer's depicted the flags of the state's subdivisions, with the words "My Maryland" sewn into the center. The quilt for Mrs. Snoops featured blocks with photos of decorative symbols such as the fountain she had installed in the mansion's gardens.
As they pumped Mr. Schaefer's hand after standing in a line that at times snaked around the block, visitors seemed to have only good wishes for his future and regrets at the end of an era.
"A lot of people reminded me of all the good things that had happened," said the 73-year-old governor.
"We talked about bridges, about schools. People reminded me of festivals we've had and neighborhood things.
"You know, it's funny. When people are frustrated, they've got to center on somebody . . . so they center on the governor.
"Now a couple thousand people come through, everyone wishes me well. That isn't the way it's been other years."
Scott Brewer, 72, supported Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey in the recent election to fill Mr. Schaefer's seat, but he showed up to greet the Democrat nonetheless.
"I wanted to say farewell to him on this occasion," said the Chevy Chase resident. "Everyone wants to leave the governor with a happy feeling."
George and Marianne Clark invited Mr. Schaefer to join the Annapolis Lions Club, because "you're going to have nothing to do," they told him.
"We're going to miss those two," Mrs. Clark said later of the governor and Mrs. Snoops. "I just hate to see them go. I'm just glad our good old comptroller [Louis L. Goldstein] is still around."
There were old friends and complete strangers, a few of whom hoped for last-minute Christmas gifts from a lame-duck governor.
Jean Harpster of Hyattsville came hoping to convince Mr. Schaefer not to close the Great Oaks Center for the severely retarded in Silver Spring, where her daughter has lived for 20 years. She left unsure whether she had changed his mind.
"He gave me much longer than I thought he would," she said.
Mr. Schaefer assured many that he was only retiring from "this job" and didn't plan to fade from the political scene. Most immediately, he said, he plans to take a chair at the University of Maryland if it is funded.
He laughed and waved in agreement at the man who wished him, "Happy rest of your life."
Mrs. Snoops, 70, sat on a navy-blue swivel chair a few feet from the governor for part of the afternoon, rising only occasionally to stand with him and greet guests. She said she had been in ill health but was feeling better.
Mrs. Snoops said that when Mr. Schaefer leaves office Jan. 18, the two plan to live next door to each other at their adjoining Pasadena townhouses and would see each other as often as ever. She said their relationship wouldn't change.
"We're good friends, that's all, and he trusts me," Mrs. Snoops said.
The official hostess said she was looking forward to getting rest and escaping the glare of public life.
For Mr. Schaefer, yesterday's dose of the glare finally appeared to deliver near-pure adoration. He predicted that, in keeping with the day, even the Fourth Estate wouldn't tarnish his swan song.
"This young lady," he said, pointing to a reporter, "she'll write a nice story because it's the end of my time."