Daily American telegraph., 1852-08-23
Our c,ty-Its Guests and citizens.


Our City-Its Guests and Citizens.
The members of Congress are about to retire tt
their respective homes, after very long and ar
duous, if not fruitful session. Our citizens vii
observe their departure with concern, and il
many instances with regret for the ties Of attach
ment that arise between our people and the in.
tellgent and talented gentlemen who sojourn
among us in this public capacity are often of a
very pleasant and profitable kind.
But there is not enough of this. The residence
of members of Congress here is too generally at
the hotels or members boarding houses" and
their social intercourse restricted to the s'fash-
ionable society," whose temporary abode alone is
with us They know but little of the plain, COM
Portable, honest, unassuming and intelligent citi
zens Of Westinghouse Washington off the Ave-
nue., as distinctly Separate from the showey and
fashionable Washington as it is possible for two
cities fifty miles apart to be-
In the city of Washington there are honesty,
prudence, industry, modesty, and Intelligence,
such as are neither seen nor appreciated by many
of the distinguished gentlemen who dwell even
for many sessions here. There are carpenters
bricklayers, shop-keepers, clerks &C., whose neat
and tidy homes, and whose possessions of houses
and grounds, are things scarcely noticed or
thought of by the great men of the nation.
This standing apart of the real Washingtonians
and their periodic visitants is to be regretted
But whose is the fault? 1t does not belong to
the citizens. We have never known them to
hight or regard with indifference any gentleman
whose constituents have deemed him worthy to
represent them. We think it is owing to the
fact that so few who are sent hither find it con-
venient to bring their families with them; and
hence coming resolved to disregard the social
comforts and conveniences that can be found only
in the repose of family, they are content with
the way of life and associations peculiar to the
hotels, but which are not congenial to the tastes
of orderly, sedate, and unostentatious citizens.
They are usually men too well established in
character and years to yield to the temptations
that would degrade less experienced persons
yet, SO far as manners and the influences of as
sociations concerned, they appear to willingly
set ut defiance the restraints of conventional
propriety that sweeten the enjoyment of domes-
tic life.
The habit Of bringing their wives and children
with them to the National Capital is necessary,
on the part of members of Congress, to a proper
enjoyment of this healthy and abundant city, and
right appreciation of the people whose perma-
nent homes are here.
To induce the adoption Of such custom, two
things are requisite: the first, that there should
be on the part of our honorable friends (aoho are
generally poor less affectation of grandeur and
wealth; and, secondly, that our citizens should
not be misled by these pretensions, but induced
to receive honorables and their families with all
the frankness and hearty cordially they extend
to all others who come among them. We would
also indicate the propriety of supplying one very
important want arising from such state of
things. 1t is that of dwellings adapted to the
uses Of the families of members. These, with all
appointments complete, including the more sub
stantial and bulky portions of furniture, should
be provided at from $3.50 to 5000 per session.
We remember once hearing gentleman re-
mark that he would become free mason, if his
wife could also, but that he had no confidence in
the goodness of any place not accessible to wo-
man. II is the experience Of the world that no
refined and desirable condition of society can ex-
list where she is not nor do we ever expect to
witness such and we regard the presence in this
city during the session Of the families of mem
bers as the most desirable reform possible to be
made. That the present compensation is meagre
for the purpose, we admit; but it would be in
fnitely better to add any necessary increase than
to continue practice neither conducive to indi-
yidual happiness nor to the general veal.
q