Clayton herald. (Clayton, Del.) 1867-1870, 1869-05-29
sus,e ptfcr Side OF tiTe OMee-seekinp
Question.

There is good deal Of truth, VOL ex-
pressed, in the following extract from
Mrs. Ames' Washington letter in the IL-
dependent:
If l were man and could earn am
honest living with my hands, L should
certainly do it, instead of coming to
Washington i'll search of an office. I'd
rather eat the bread of spontaneous toll,
though earned by sweat of brow and
WEAKNESS of brain, than TO grind it out
as a machine i'll the Government em-
ploy. Vet l see many faces to sympn-
thze with in these l0bbies, = honest
country faces, cureworn, sicKly ones,
that really look us if they had a right to
whatever they have come TO ask for. OF
course, somebody has right 10 the gov
eminent patronage; perhaps those who
come alter it have us good right as
anybody. But it strikes me very oddly
when hear members of Congress and
their wives speaking loitily and con-
iemptuously to totally different genus
from themselves.
My opinion is that they are all Office
seekers together; the difference being
only in drgree in the fairness of the offices
they seek after. / don't know why it is
not as honorable and as modest for IA
man to try to get post office, consul
late or clerkship, as for man to spend
half his fortune, and sell his soul per-
laps III the bargain, to get to Congress.
Looking down on THIS luxurious Senate
chamber, on these black coated, high
chokered gentlemen spl oading about so,
utterly at ease, it is difficult to realize
that they are not to the Senate born,
that they did not glide into these cush.
Toned chairs by the graceful grooves of
natural birthright. But here is not Il
man here VINO has not worked hard, or
hired other men TO work hard, for this
legislative chair-how hard many would
not care 10 tell,
The heart burnings, the jealousies, tho
mates, the iavlshed fortunes, the barter
ed honor Which boughts some of those
seats, their occupants would not dare to
have known. There are men sitting
here for whom thousands of other men
have worked as for themselves to place
them where they are. Before their tri-
umph they did not feel at all deineaned
TO ask poor man to vote for them thew
deemed no man too lowly to work for
them; they themselves stamped"
" canvassed," ;" electioneered," till they
were hoarse and sick, and thought the
Once they wanted well worth the trou-
BILE. But the honor once won, it is so
easy to forget the poor man in the shah
by coat who voted for you; so easy to
snub the poor man in the ante-r room who
ventures to stammer, "Sir, 1 worked
lor you; Will you do what you can for
me?' so grand to play the senator by
waving your hand najestically toward
a guarded door, and exclaiming in an
awe inspiring voice, " have no time to
attend to you. My duties are in the Sc
nate chamber" All this is so easy and
so mean.
The Senate is the nations, guard of
honor. Ii were man 1 would not
stop short of senator myself; but, hav-
ing gained that high estate, 1 hope that
should have grace to remember that it
was the people quite as much as myself
who had made me one, and when L COM
planned 10 my wife that L was "almost
bored to death by office seekers" hope
she would reply, in a wife's most aggra-
waiting tones, My dear, whom you wan
ted an office, how dreadiully you bored
other people. have seen fearful talk
ing on of airs of late on the feminine side
of official life by women in themselves
ordinary TO the verge ofstupidity, whom
The people have elevated as so many
dead weights appended to their hus-
bands honors. IL would be amusing to
see them avert their eyes and snuff their
noses at office seekers" and at "com-
mon people, if their new places did not
give them the power to wound the feel
ings of the strangers.