The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-01-27

the masonary are formidable as The
arches of the Coliseum, yet there is q
dome of iron which no year of. our
Lord but this could have framed and
put together. A battery sends q
spark of FIRE, likes winged lamplight.
er. from the eye of the dome to the
coal-pit, yet the heather deities swarm
on every ceiling. Take the Chaplain
out of Congress and there is not one
Christian symbol in all this mighty
pile to tell whether the nation worship.
ed Jove or Jehovah. The beautiful
C ock that in the old hall looks down
upon the ghosts of memories, might
have kept time when Caesar was stab.
bed dead in the Senate House. AL
land have paid contribution here.
She statuary was chiseled by the Arnc
and the Tiber; the .stairways were
quarried in Tennessee. He who cut
yonder 6as rslif fred the internal
machine upon Louis Philippe.
|. The hand that modelled yender
head of Washington felt the wrinkles
of Voitaire and measured the lips Of
Rousseau. In this bronze door q
Yankee artists wife standing for his
model under the Pincian Hill, repre-.
sents the Lady Boabdille, who, per.
haps, had heard Columbus speak. Nc
edifice of like strength and yastness
known to man was ever erected with
the same CELEBRITY. Whoever lived in
this city fftysix years ago saw only
the blackened walls of the Old Capt. !
defacing this site. No Building OF
the elegance and superfices ofthis was
probably " erected SO cheapfy,
The dome excepted. and the climate
considered, it should stand, its doom
were now to come, as long as the
arches of the palace of the Caesars.
Over its three acres of aisles and al.
coves, twice repeated in successive
floors, one can wander of rainy or q
sunny day, never in want Of sugges-
tons, delights, perspectives studies.
He a ascend the %lanthorn. and look
upon landscape whose physical out
lines are fast filling in with as strong
historical associations. There = bold
ris-a-vis of cotemporary character to
be met in every den and gulf of the
basement.
4 Wis AVIS.
For instance, coming down from
the dome, the other day, / heard q
familiar voices slightly nasal, q very
gristly voice. Could itl No! Uncle
Ben. Wade SO high in the air p?
l. Yea : truly. Preceded bY q lady
and his clerk, the veritable Pope OF
Bashan, cane in hand. was climbing
the iron steps. Behind him, putting
and painting, for she was fat and scan1
OF breath, came Mrs. Wade.
dear me-" says Mrs. w, "1
think we shall never get up
"It's furder than / believed, said
Uncle Ben, who had lately some sor.
ry experience of the slipperiness o.
great nights.
1 tackled on behind, like a caboose
to an OK train, and concluded to re.
ascend with this remarkable party
The steepness ofthe stairs of the dome
affords large opportunities for making
discoveries on the way up. Ofcot,rse
you must be caboose to do this. Fol
example, you can zee the nails in the
so,eg of man's shoes in this way
and guess at ting size of his foot ano
determine his shoemaker. But it took
all my eyes to find foot places, and
heard Uncle Ben, gasp out once.
"This is the first time l ever came
up in this dome"
Indeed, Mr.. Wadep" said the
polite picture dealer in the eye there.
OF, landing his royal and meaty party.
dreadfully blown and demoralized.
your first visit, sir? Pray take d
-soo.l
They sat them down under Brum
dis umbrella, monstroLsy gay will.
~allegories, and exchanged apoplsctit
spasms OF information. / thought
over many things: of the curiousity
of the mind which could go SO far ul
in tire nation and such a little way vi
in its architecture ; of the fact tina
so old q man postponed a duty &c
long ; of how mournful a visit thi.
might be, considering, and of how
human nature is often Hottest in di-
appointment. Salt River is now 3
synonym for "going up the dome
Here we pay u debts, blow off as
much wind as we spent in our mo-
ments of enthusiasm, pressaging large
things of ourselves. but it is seldom