Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1867-05-25
The LadYeaf the Canitnl.


letter to the I,ade0e1edent, describes some
of the female lobbyists and their ways.
The following sketch is thrillingly inter
esting. s-,1 70
Leaning back in deep chair, no one
near her, you see fair woman, whose
beautiful presence seems variance with
the many anxious and angular and the
coarse women around her. The calmness
of assured position, the serene satisfac-
tion of conscious beauty, envelope her
and float from her like an atmosphere.
We feel it even here. Pale plumes dreop
above her lovely forehead, velvet draper
les fall about her graceful form. We
catch a glimpse ofalluring 1aces, the CLEAN
ofjewels glittering Oh dimpled, ungloved
hands Look long into this face /; its
splendor of tint. and perfection of outline
can bear the closet scrutiny. Look long,
and then say if a soul sanity as we'll as
serene looks out from under those pencil
ed arches, through the dilating rises of
those beguiling eyes. Look and the
unveiled gaze which meets yours will tell
you, as plainly as a gaze can tell, that
adulation is the life of its life, and seduc-
tion the secret Of its SPELL This beauty
would not blanch before the profanest
sight it is the beauty Of one who tunes
her tongue to honeyed accents, and lifts
up her eyelids to lead men astray. She
glides through the corridors, haunts the
galleries and the anterooms of the Capt.
tol-everywhere conspicuous in her beau
ty All who behold her inquire:
Who is that beautiful woman? No
body seems quite sure. Doubt and mys-
terry envelope her like a cloud. She is a
rich and beautiful widow She is unmarri-
ed; She is visiting the city with her
husband. Every gazer. has a different an
swer. -. .- .-.'s. r4. ..s
There are but a few deep in the secrets
of diplomacy, of legislative venality, Of
government prostitution, who can tell you
that she is. one of the most subtle and
most dangerous of lobbyists. She is but
one of class always beautiful and always
successful. She plays for large stakes );
but she always wins. The man who says
to her, Secure my appointment, make sure
my promotion, and / will pay you SO
many thousands, usually gets his appoint
menu, ana Sne ner InOuSdluS.s OOSS Slc
wait like suppliant? Not at all. She
sits like an empress waiting to give audi
ence. Will she receive her subjects in
promiscuous assemblage? No, if you
wait long enough, you see her glide over
these. tesselated floors but not alone.
Far from the ears of the crowd, in some
anteroom sumptuous enough for the Sy
brites, this woman, as beautiful as nature
and art can make her, will dazzle the
sight of half demented and wholly be-
wildered magnate, and then tell him what
she wants. With. alluring eyes and be-
guiding voice, she will besiege his will
through the outworks of his senses, and
so charm Kim on to Go her pleasure. He
promises her his influence, he promises
her his power, her favorite shall have the
boon he demands. Thus some of the high
est prizes in the Government are won.
Unscrupulous men pay willy women to
touch the subtlest and surest springs of
influence, and then open a secret way to
their public success. No longer the ques-
tion is-Shall women participate in poll
tics shall they form a controlling ele-
ment in the Government? But, as there
are women who will and do exert this
power, shall it remain covert, equivocal,
demoralizing, base? OF shall it be. brave,
and pure, and open as the sun? ,5 =