The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1862-02-07
Ripples at the Capital.

JEFF Dem. tho mud is subsidng the
mist has rolled away; tho clouds have
dropcd themselves out and are gene and
the sun and brigh. sky, the crisp air, full of
electricity, aud the white frost reminds ono
of one of those sparkling, late March morn.
ings in Northern Ohio, after tho winter has
gone. How checrily it must break upon the
white fonts and huts of our pationt, suffer.
ing soldiors. over the Potomac, in droury
Western Virginia. in Kentucky and tho far
off Missour-this Heaven.sont Sabbath
morning, kissing tho wntry earth with the
warn, lips ofvsunshinc, mud kindling up dc
! pressed hearts with
The benedicton that follows prayer T.
| In outer seeming at least, this Babel City
is an observer of tho Sabbath. Tho hacks
ond tboir wraug!ing drivers arc nor cst !;
tho lido of Georgetown ana Navy Yard
busses does not thunder over the grand
Avenue; tho little boot-blacks ply their
craft ia subdued tone; aud tho diminished
newsboys only cry, 1.-The Sunday Morning
Chronicle = in tho minor koy. No hugo
army trains break on the hush of tho air,
and the hotels, boarding houses and othor
constitutions" have not yet vomted their
molly masses into the streets. The solitary
mounted sentincls, W i,h their ashen. staffcd
sIeel-pointed aud pinioned lances. sit like
carved statues at the corners, and tho mel.
ancholy tones of the early bells are tho only
'ripples" that broak tho Sabbath stiffness
Occasionally n single dispatch bearer.
covered with mud, strikes sharp "clinks"
from the pavement, as he dashcs towards
head quarters; and hero aud there groups
of saddlcd aud wal. .caparisopod horses, aud
half dozen armed ordorlies, denote the
head quarters of tho Commander ia. Chief
or of some lessor chiefs Of the army.
Up there in that little brick, on the
Avenue, at the corner of Lafave,to Square,
III front of which Sicklos killed Key--up in
that brick. up ono flight OF steps and back
now plots aud plans in hushed councils, tho
General in Chief while still above him, in
another little room, like the beats of fever
driven. restless human hoart, or the ticks Of
a death-watch, throbs The ceaselcss tele
graph, Whispering, ever whispering in its
mystic language, to tho ear of that General
in Chief, notos from all his far off armies,
and carrying back his own never spoko on
answers and orders.
And later tho bells will ring again, and
the decorous President, Mrs. President and
tho court will reyorently go and profitably
listen to the plain teaching of the orthodox
DR.. Gurley. Tho little moro exaeting but
still orthodox will attend tho more popular
and pungent preaching of DR.. Sunderland.
The admirers of spasmodic rhetoric will
flock to the Hall Of tho House, and bo
charmed with the figures of tho ghastly
Chaplain, Rev. DIR. Stockton, whose health
will, perhaps, obligo him to preach sitting.
And still othors who caro- not much for
forms, or even persuasive oratory. yet who
feel "a present need" will wond to the
modest church, to listen to Dr.. Channing,
a nephew of the Chsnning.
And tho piottors will plot more silently
still the intriguers shut in, will still scheme
and contrivc.aIl the deeper for this enforced
decorum; BacchaDalians will revel in thick
walls; tho gambling hclls will burn as
ficrceiy as ever; drunkenness will drink as
deop, but more decorously; in the great.
nameless deus, disease and rottenness will
still foster and rot on nearer TO death |;
while on all the outer walls will still fall
the rich yellow sunshine of the winter, Sab.
bath euu.
And this "ripplcr," in the still, early hour,
will steal off on the sunny side of tho quiet
streets, and lose himself in tho memories of
q thousand years ogo, whom he was boy.
in the new clearing, hemmed in by interml-
! nable forests, through which only came
faint murmnrs of tho far.of world-a time
long before tho fierce fights of manhood,
and its suspicious, and distrusts, and cause.
less hates, and treacheries, and fa'shoods--
long before the dreams, and passions, and
uOkncwing hopes of youth-back among
the dead years and thick .strewn graves OF
q still earlier aud better life-to bring back,
| il may DO, the Tenderness and holiness II
not tho hopes of that pure time, for the
strength IL may impart to do tho right for
righteousness sake; to add, it may be, to
the worlds richer gains, ono little, Dameless
grain of good, so that. whatever awaits the
unknown door, the thing done may not be
wholly profitleSs. -