The weekly pioneer and Democrat., 1861-12-20


washingten IN may and December.
~ the Editor ofMs Pioneer a.d Democrat.
WARRINGTON, Dec. 2, 1861.
1t was my promise and purpose on com.
ing here, fortnight ago, to keep the read
ers Of the PIoHHER AND DEMOCRAT
''posted, not as to current news, but as to
the temper Of men and the times, and the
general condition Of affairs. This, until
now, has been impossible; for there are few
constitutions that can stand the beginning
Of q Washington winter, and mine don't
belong to that class.
The first thing that strikes visitor to the
capital now, is the marvellous change that
has be en- wrought here during the last six
months. In May and June, following the
dark days Of April, Washington was COM
paratively deserted, except by place and
contr act hunters. Dozens of fine stores on
the Avenue were closed the hot Is showed
slim lists of arrivals and departures hun-
dreds of desirable dwellings were tenantless !;
and over all the city hung the pail and sha~
dow of uncertainty and fear. An uncer-
tainty and fear, too, that were not dissipat-
ed and scarcely lessened, even by the thous.
ands of armed men that were infowing eve.
ry day for its defence. But the deserted
village" has now given place to the popu.
lous, bustlipg city. The whole District
seems vast boarding house, and every
house is full. Such a fall and winter has
never been known in Washington. PENN
sylvania Avenue is the counterpart of
Broadway. Pleasure carriages, trains of
Government teams, express wagons, 60.
carts, handScarts, vehicles of every conceiv-
able description, block up the noble Avenue
through its whole length, from morning to
night; and the broad walks are thronged
continually, as if each day were holiday,
and the whole country was at Washington
enjoying it.
Every Western traveller understands
what is meant by the "quarter section'
depart ment, or apartment, OF hotel ;where
the cots and beds are dovetailed together as
thick as they can be put up, and where
sleep is pursued under difficulties, amid the
liquoracharged breaths and heavy snorings
of twenty or forty companions in distress.
There is no present use of going farther
West than Washington to enjoy this plea
SAINT feature of hotel life. Every public
house, from Wizards down, has its "quar.
ter section," under its roof, or within con.
venient reach; where carpet.bag patriots
retire to build air castles in their dreams,
Or seek oblivion in sleep from the disap.
pointments Of the day.
The hundred and odd regiments quar-
tered in the immediate vicinity of Wash
ington, are all, Or nearly all, represented by
the stores or depots of the suffers belongs
ing to them. Aside from these, hundreds
of stores, shops, and factories have been
opened and put in operation within the last
six months, stimulated by the increase of
business which the presence of so vast an
army has called into being. Fortunes are
being made here with rapidity, and in the
regular course of trade. In May last, from
fourth to a third of the houses on PENN
sylvania Avenue were vacant. Rents had
declined to nominal point, and property
was considered as representing the next
fraction to cipher. 1t was a scheme of
our Major Browns Joseph r. when he
came on here in June or July, to rent all
the vacant places on the Avenue, at the
then going nominal rates. He proposed
his plan to gentlemen of capital, but they
could not see as far into the future as the
Major did, and so the project was aban-
doned. The Major was right in his FORE
cast, for prices that seem fabulous are now
obtained for the most ordinary frst-foor
rooms, and had he put bis scheme into eff
feet, Minnesota could, by this time, have
boasted of him, as her half-a>millionaire, at
least. We sympathise with the Major and
condole with the State at large On the fail.
ure of this brilliant speculation. How all
the roads OF Minnesota would have whizzed
again, with the puffs and rush of steam
wagons, had the Major only bagged his
half million, and landed safely with it
on our soil
1t is hard to alize the Washington OF
six months ago in the Washington of to-
day. And the great transformation is not
temporary one. We are military peo-
pie henceforth, and the Capital of the re-
united Republic, will always be the rem
devious of large military force; and
represent in some creditable degree, the
spirit and enterprise, as it already does the
wealth and grandeur, of the Nation.
E.S. G.
The RAILROAD AaAIN.-We are inform