The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1860-03-03

8 COUN
coRREsPoNDENCE OF TINE NoNPAREIL.
49, WAsHrNGroN, Feb. 10th, 1860.
. DEAR EDIroR-The episodes cof WASH
ington life in public and in private, would
hll volumes with As startling romance a.
any coined by the fertile brain of the nov.
slist and were they published, would show
up to thslworld in NO enviablc light, many
men who are now believed BY the masses
to be paragons Of perfection; but, at the
same time, there is too much Of a disposi-
tion among the sensation letter. writer's at
the Capitol, to make stories Of whole
CLOTH = and foist them upon the public a.
bonaJfde experiences among the "noles." |"
III should say that the majority Of these
Especial correspondents" dash of their
spicy episslss BY guess, with very little at
tention to fact, should be pretty near the
truth. This is q fast age, and the public
naturally look for fresh wonders at tho
opening Of every mail, but the .ssstartling"
10 being overdone, and those writers who
manufacture sensation news to order, will
eventually find their glittering paste-work
unappreciated where it is now so greedily
sought after. But have gone little too
fast, perhaps, the first thing know my
readers will be charging me with SANDER
ing letter-writers by Wholesale, myself in.
cluded. So will change the subject, and
try to tell you in sober black and white,
something about Washington as see it,
and what the servants of the sovereign peo.
pie are doing. asaa
One marked feature of the Federal Capt.
tol is, that great number of people who live
by keeping hotels and boarding houses, a
much larger number am sure than can
make it pay, especially as large class of
cormorants prey upon them and rob them
Of their profits, by most rascally system
of "sponging." Hundreds of well dressed
jackanapes, who have no visible means Of
support but their legs, make boast of bow
they have s'done" their land-ladies. The
same thing is of course is true in measure,
in oil cities of considerable size; but think
it is much worse here than in any other city
on the continent. Their success in this
nefarious line of operations may be ac-
counted for by the great number boarding
house keepers and their consequent eager
ness to get boarders, even when the chances
for pay are decidedly shadowy, and the
nearest and most cowardly part Of the bu-
siness is that in a great majority of the cases
poor women are the sufferers. This fash
ionable specimen of the genus thief can
get no credit for his whiskey and other
nameless luxuries, nor can he take hand
at the gambling table without money but
he can board month with some poor
widow, aud leave dilapidated, old empty
trunk with her for payment, with the cool
est Insurance. 5a.
The class Of bipeds known by the coguo-
men of "pimps." is very large here, COM
prisins all the grades Of the profession,
from the full fed, exquisitely dressed speci-
men, down to the seedy, brandy -purpied
wretch, who gets his scanty subsistence by
pandering to appetitcs long since destroyed
in himself Of excess. Another class of
unfortunate beings of whom speak "more
in sorrow than in anger" is very large, and
contains many of the fairest flowers of
sar,h--alas how soon to fade and pass
down to despair and death, under the with
sring curse resting upon them; but will
leave classes and speak of Individuals
Among the most emarkable Of remarkable
men here, is Albert Pie, the Poet, Lawyer
and Hunter, of Arkansas. An accomplished
roue and fastidious epicure-he is q brill
liant wit, profound and learned lawyer,
and probably does as much literary labor
as any man in Washington. He spends his
winters here attending to large business in
the U. S. Supreme Court and living like a
prince, and his summers he sputs i'm to good
advantage, killing bear and buffalo, in the
wilds Of Arkansas. Dan. Sickles and his
erring I" Teresa " are living a quiet, retired
life, and tits rumored that Sickles has OK /.
perienced change Of heart, and will soon
unite with q church, but think the rumor
is groundless. Most Of the time of Mon
days session in House and Senate was spent
in paying tribute to the memory of the la
mented Broderick, Some very eloquent
eulogies were delivered and thought if
Gwinn had any conscience at all, he must
have felt when the proceeding closed, like a
tried and convicted murderer. Haun, the
temporary successor of Broderick, is man
of very moderate ability, and his speech
on his illustrious predecessor was lame
affair. The Senate, as you are already
aware passed the bill abolishing the frank.
ing privilege, but the House, BY large
majority, refused to do SO. The Senate
will try it again in another form, but it will
not pass the House. Bocock. Of Va, the
defeated Democrat candidate for Speaker,
has been appointed to deliver the oration
at the inauguration of the Washington
Statue on the 22nd. 1t is close work be-
tween the Democrats and Republicans, in
their struggle for house printer. But for
the detection of few Republicans, who
favor the election Of the publishers Of the
Washington Republic, Defrees might have
been elected several days ago. II Gloss
breuner, the Democratic candidate should
be elected, be would be obliged to appro-
pirate to bis own use more of the plunder
than Wendell did, or the job, fat as it is,
would do him little good. 1t 10 said that