Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-03-31
OFFICE.SEEKING,
New the ''Bread and Butter brigade
Besiege Members of Congress.

OFF1CEsSEEAI
He" the "Bread and Butter brigade
Besiege Members of Congress.
Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial
| WASHINGTON, March 24.-I was 9
work in my room yesterday when Ia
specimen Of upright humanity stalked in
"Are you d. P .?'' it asked.
Since entering upon my vocation o
correspondent, | mean a truthful, indie
pendent correspondent, l regard tina
question with suspicion. l quietl,
reached out, and in careless, graceful
manner putsmy hand on a paper weigh
ola few pounds, made of "Black- diamond
homogeneous cast,steel, bent cold,' fol
the use Ofthe learned committee on com.
merce, and regarded my visitor closely
He was man Of about fifty-six with
a bald head, curious, sharp, little eyes
an undecided nose, and chin that re.
treated into a paper collar. His clothes
were OF what we call store goods, in the
Far West, and had evidently exhausted
the genius of village tailor. His legs
were slender and shaky, not from age
but from habit Of never Strengthening
them at the knee. l said to myself, this
Is not fightist, He shuffles through
life. He has shuffled into office. So |
released my hold on the paper-weight,
and boldly responded
THAT is my name, sir"
Il am Mr.. -, member of Congress
from -. I have read your letters.
Mr.. -, the editor of our paper, told
me to look you up"
Il am glad to know you, sir, Take a
seat. What can do for you?"
81 want some passes" he said, ear
nestly, seating himself.
What sort of passes?''
Railroad"
Il fear | cannot help you in that way,
MIR. -. | had pass for myself and
family, from the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, but because, in return for the
compliment, l said the President had q
locomotive in his belly, l am cut off.
But why do you want passes? Are you
prepared to run aWay?7
wish could he answered sadly.
| wish could. No, that is not it.
am run down by Office seekers from my
district. They pile in on me at my
clearinghouse. | have bin sleeping eV-
cry night on my bed room floor. They
follow me about, and chase me down.
They have smoked all my cigars and
drank up all my whisky, and now they
are getting out of Money and want to
borrow. | heard where to find you |
made an excuse to go into an alley, and
ran away. A police officer thought
was a thief and ran after me. told
him | was a member Of Congress, runs
ming from the ofiice-seekeTs. He said
that was ruff, and let me go on. There
Is one, 4 woman, worse than all the rest
She wants the best pOstOffice | have.
What in the Internal jinks does Grant
mean by setting such an example? All
the females in my district are writing to
me, and two hundred will be here, some
how, if We don't repeal this foul law and
fill the offices. This woman torments
my life out and, yet, if l give her the
office, | won't dare go home. She fol-
lers me up like Satan. can't eat, |
can't sleep, l can't put on clean shirt,
she pops in on me so unexpected. Now,
if had railroad pass"
"HOW would that help you?''
81 believe, if l could say to her, can't
give you an office, but here is a railroad
pass, she'd take it and go. But, Lord
love you, | want a hundred. They're
getting out of money, tell you, and if 1
only had 'em. Now, can't you help
me? You newspaper men always have
lots of. passes. The editor in our town
hasn't paid railroad fare for mOre'n
twenty years"
had to assdre my poor friend that
really could not help him. | suggested
to him to get a sign painted, Small
pOx in this house. and put ii up over
his door.
"Pooh," he cried, do you suppose
they'd care for that? Every bloody one
Of EN- would get vaccinated, and work il
on me. Cholera would not keep EN- off
| wish I'd been sunk in eternal thunder
before | consented to come to Congress
Consented? | worked like mule for it.
1t cost me all of eight hundred dollars
more fool l. What can l do? My
neighbors and constituents wanted ma
tional dog law, for the better protection
of sheep, and to raise the price of wool
Why, it would take fellow two years t
learn the rules, and then l don't think
could do hooter. But cuss these office
seekers"
You are safe on the floor, however
Devil bit. They get round tht
doors and send in their names. They
run up in the gallery, to see if l an
there, and then down they come / hi
in the barber shops every day for week
before they found me out. And thel
Littlebang, who wants to be Minister t
Europe, wrote home to the paper, ant
said l had been made Chairman Of tn
Standing Committee on Hair"
How long my friend would have con
tinued his lamentations l can not say
but he was interrupted by an arrival c
sixteen of his friends, and left very de