Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-01-09

WAITS FROM WASH1N6TONs
New Years Day In washfngton-Howi
| was Openea.
WAsHINGroN CTrl
January 3, 3, 1873.
| 'tOh never chide the wing Of Time,
| or say Ills tardy In Its flight;
Tq9 n a., shs days speed qask, enough
No man is truly great WHO'S no
thoughtful. No thoughtful man cal
see the years glide by, without gather
ing up his wandering meditations ant
asking himself whittier am going
For what purpose this endless process
sion Of moments, in whose midst
seem to be borneralong to some indef
mite and unfulfiiled des my 81
thought. and so queried the philoso
pliers ofthe olden time. 1872 with al
its pleasures and its sorrows has pass
cd into eternity. It has been q yea1
full of exciting scenes, terrible disas
tiers by sea and by land, murders, fire.
and suicides. It has also been replet,
with pleasures; so that the account il
nearly evenly balanced. / will moi
detail the sunshine nor the shadow Of
the departed year, for they are We,
fresh in the mind of the general read.
er. Vows made in good faith one yea,
ago have been broken, while on the
other hand, many good promises have
been kept, which resulted in happi-
ness. But vows that have been bro
ken, may this year be renewed, and
may, we hope, be successfully kept.
Death, which scuts down all, both
great and SMALL" has taken from us,
during the past year, many cminentin
the walks oflife. We have lost Sew
ard, tho veteran statesman; cx-Gov-
ernor Randall and ex-senator Grimes
of our own State. Garrett Davis, of
Kentucky, has been gathered to his
fathers. Erastus Corning and John
A Griswold, have passed to the land
of the hereafter. We have lost Prof.
Morse, of telegraphic fame, and Low
ell Mason, the greatest musical COM
poser. From poetical circles, Buchan-
an Read, ono of our most promising
poets, has been called away from the
scenes of earth. Fanny Fern, whose
70 =
name has been household word for
these many years, is no longer with
us. The stage has lost its Forrest and
the world mourns the departure ofthe
most eminent tragedian of the age.
j Journalism is 10th to bid adieu to
James Gordon Bennett and Horace
Greeley, but they have passed from
the stage of action never more to re-
turn.
From the army have been taken
Generals Meade, Halleck and Andcr-
son.
Our New Years day in Washington
was attended by lowering clouds
which threatened rain during the en-
tire day; while the snow and sleet be-
meath rendered it exceedingly unpleas-
ant. One remarkable feature was the
absence of intoxicating drinks from
the tables of those who received"
and the substitution of coffee and
chocolate. 1t is gratifying to know
that the friendly New Year greetings
were not turned into unbridled license
to drink liquor. The truth of the mat
ter is that it is not whit less improp-
er to get intoxicated in a "friendly
way" or through courtesy" on New
Years day than it is on any other day.
In short, there is no charm about the
first day of January that makes intox-
ication less excusable than at any other
time. Your correspondent was suffer-
ing with a severe cold and made no
calls whatever. In order to give your
rea,iers an idea of the receptions-and
especially those of Iowa people, beg
leave to quote from the carefully writ
ten report i'll the morning Chronicle:
Brilliant as usual was the reception
at the Presidential Mansion. Through
out the mansion preparation had been
made for the events of the day; white
linen covered the carpets of the reccp-
ton rooms, choice exotics filled the
vases, and the elegant chandeliers were
alive with gas jets.
The perfumes of the fragrant plants
and flowers pervaded the atmosphere
of the Red, Blue and Green rooms,
and myriads of gas jets threw their
radiant light upon the elegant furni-
ture and ornamentations, In the Blue
room President Grant occupied his
usual position in the center of the
apartment supported by General Dent,
who individually introduced the
guests. Mrs. Grant stood to the right
of the President, and the visitors were
presented to her by General Babcock.
President Grant was Mtired in plain
black, the usual dress of the Amcri-
can gentleman, and in great contrast
with the elaborate gold and lace EN-.
broidered uniforms of the foreign
ambassadors, excepting, perhaps, the
members of the Japanese embassy
who appeared in plain black. Mrs
Grant wore a flounced silk dress Of
pale drab entraiae, with trimming Q
shade deeper, high corsage, and point
lace, hair fastened with shell comb
and ornamented with black velvet
Her sister, Mrs. Sharp, wore q dress
very similar in style. Mrs. Genera
Dent was attired in q rich black vel
vet, trimmed with white point lace
hair elegantly arranged, and fastened
with a gold comb. Mrs. Judge Louis
Dent wore an elegantlilac silk, setting
off her beautiful form to advantage
and Mrs. Senator Conkling blacl
velvet, with point lace trimmings
Miss Nellie Grant, the lovely belle Q
| the Presidential Mansion, appeared II
q gros grain silk OF lavender tint, re
! lievcd with pink. Miss Dent a pinl
silk. and Miss Cooke pale blue.
In the corridor adjoining the Eas
room the full Marine Band was Assem-
i N - .i.~A t~.~ Z