Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1853-07-20
Little Great Mem ia Washington

We copy, says the Cleveland, (Ohio,)
Plaindealer, the following from an ex-
change paper, which is true picture of
the great men at home who visit the ca
pital Of the nation:
Great men back in the country are
little men in Washington. They find ten
thousand other men as great as them
selves. They lose their identity, like
pea in barrel of peas. They are
drops in the wave of Senators, Rep
resentatives, Governors, and illustrissi-
mi, that surge up and down the avenue.
Our little great man don't look for this,
and he is disappointed at every turn
He expects the landlord, when he sees
him, to saaaln to the ground in adora-
ton. The landlord merely mods, as he
might TO an ostler, and resumes his bu-
siness. 'I'll take" says the little great
ond story" for he means to sit in state
and receive distinguished guests. ".All
full, IS the answer, ''now putting down
cots IN the garnet, you can have half a
one." And so our little great mantle
omnipotent Of a country or towns
driven to share the precarious fortunes
of straw tick, with another great man,
as little as himself. This is the precur-
sor and type of his Washington expert
ence. He visits the White House and
sends up his card. Here" he says
pensively, "my name is known" The
servant returns Cant see you," he
announces, 'stoo busy" "When did he
say should call ?" asks the little great
man, family. "Said nothing about i >"
is the reply. "Ah! hum - and the
little great man walks away sucking the
knob of his umbrella and swearing con-
dign vengeance On the President
lssPunkyille," he mutters, 'tshall hear of
it,"
The Departments next engross his at
tention. There at least he will be well
come. His pasteboard overtures are
here likewise spurned. Finally, he OBJ
tains access to the Post Master Gener-
al or the Secretary Of the Treasury, but
he is one Of an "undistinguishable
throng." There is no sitting down for
an hour, chatting Familiarity over cigar,
picking out snug birth for himself and
comfortably arranging Punkyille affairs
after his own heart. He is nobody "a
mong nobodies, and, as he has nothing
in particular to say for himself, he con-
cludes to retire. The little great man
learns, for the first time, that he is s.no
great shakes" at Washington. His in
dignation gradually GIBBS, as he sees ten
thousand other lutte great men in the
same fix. He moderates his ambition.
At first he repudiated any-thing smaller
than foreign mission, consulship, or
the head OF bureau He will now
take clerkship, an agency, or any 9TH
er little trihe Of that sort. But, hunil-
iating spectacle even this is denied
him /!
| The little great man generally retires
with others of his sort, at this crisis,
and gets exceedingly drunk. A horri-
bic fascination still chains him to the
capital. He has vague expectation OF
yet securing prize. He is only ava
lkened from the pleasing delusion, by
4 the consciousness of diminished means.
| He must hurry home or be strained high
and dry on BORROWERS shore. He
goes, and Punkyilie is treated for the
next six months to TRADE on the
President and Cabinet, or, (Which is,
perhaps, the better way, is made to be-
Ilieve that their great man at home was
great man abroad, and ate, rode, slept,
talked and drank with the "powers that
be-" on the most intimate and confden-
!tial terms; but for some mysterious
reasons, that he don't choose to explain,
didn't get an Office for his own use or
for anybody's else.