Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1873-07-29
Letter from Washington.
WASHINGTON, D. c., July 18th, 1873.

WASHINGTON, d. c., July 18th, 1878.
Editor Spectator:
[ am auartered at st. James
Hotel, on the corner of 9th Street and Penn
sylvania Avenue, which is conducted on the
European plan. | am furnished nice room
at one dollar per day. and l order at the table
whatever want, and pay the price affixed Ii
the bill of fare, for each article | order and
nay for each meal as soon as am done eating.
Every thing is nice. but the bill Of fare is pret
ty high. Nothing is less than 10 cents, while
many dishes range from so to Is cents each.-
can get my meals at any hour. and eat as Of
ten as I please. | like this place very much,
except that when sit down to the table and
write out my order, it is so long before it is
filled. The dining room is presided over by a
female cashier, who receives the pay at her
desk, with pleasant smile. | met with our
county man. Fl. L. Gallaher, at this Hotel. He
boards here. His recent reverses have not
crushed the man out of him, but serve to slim
ulate his recuperative energies. You will hear
good report of him before long-I am not..at
liberty to say more.
Col Mosby is here, also, in the interest OF
the Radical party, in the approaching Guber-
material contest.
This is bustlipg place-everybody and eve
rything goes In trot, even the dray horses
The heat is intense and the dust is intolerable.
[ have heard nothing of cholera in the city.
The width of the streets is most remarkable,
especially the avenues The side walks on the
minor streets are about 90 feet wide; on the
more important streets, 25 feet, and on the
and we'll shaded On many of the streets,
think the side walks are widened too much at
the expense of the street, and make them ap-
pear too narrow. The avenues are paved with
wooden blocks set on end, about the size Of
large brick. These blocks are generally coated
with coal tar, which, when freshly applied,
softens in the sun and causes a very unpleasant
smell of gas This paving makes very smooth
and quiet drive for buggy or carriage, and
ladies and gentlemen cross these streets at any
point or any direction, as there are no regular
crossings, but they have to watch, as the ap-
proach of buggy or carriage would not be
observed by the noise until right upon them.
Some of the streets are paved with concrete,
made by mixing coal tar and sand and gravel.
1t makes very smooth aud hard surface, but
| cannot say how long it will last. l expect it
will turn out about like the concrete (graveI
roofing. The streets are very irregular, and
consequently troublesome to stranger. The
avenues seem all to centre on the Capitol
Square, and at the points of conveyance of ave-
nues, and also of streets, there are triangular
parks of less or more size. The city Is exten-
sively laid out, but not cOmpacty built. 1t has
greatly improved since the war. The Board of
Public Works are having all the streets made
to conform to a uniform grade almost per-
feet level; and many of the old streets are be-
ing cut down, until the houses are left high and
dry, or feet The street between the Post
office and Patent Office will be lowered to depth
that will leave those costly and important build
ings feet above the street. | think there is
great danger of cracking the walls and dam
aging their foundations. The style of archi-
lecture is massive, but pretty, and there are
many beautiful mansard roofs.
The urn-outs in the evening, and everybody
turns ont are magnificent. and every one tries
to excel Dexter in point of speed. The cost of
living in this city must be great, as everything,
rents. are high. The heat at night
makes it necessary to keep the windows open,
and then woe to him who has not good mos
quito bar [ could not help laughing, last
night, while lying in bed, under one of these
delightful shields, and listening to the cozensng
of myriad of these rapacious, audacious, pug
nacious and libelaciOus pests of sleepy man,
as they vainly thrust in their bills, and failing
to ''st,lke oil" would seem to inquire where is
he? [ replied, [ am ''in statu quo" and In
tend to maintain my position. Captain Cen
eral Gallinipper, who commanded this host OF
vampires, took position above my head, and
tried to coax me to come out from under my
retreat, or at least to raise my shield and take
some fresh air. But concluding discretion to
be the better part of valor," maintained
dignifed silence, and finally fell asleep, watched
over by these hungry guardians of the night,
and awoke In the morning to find that my ene-
mics had retired with the owls and bats, before
the god of day.
The street cars pass every five minutes, and
are always full from sun up until 10 at night
They run from Georgetown, through Washing
ton, to the Navy Yard distance of 5 miles, and
charge passengers only cents for the whole dis
tance, or ten cents for the round trip. Five
cents is the charge for any distance. long or
short.
There was fire this morning at the Navy
Department, which did considerable damage to
the building, and to the records in part Of the
building. 1t is reported to have been caused
by spontaneous combustion. This is per-
fectly absurd. This spontaneous combustion
has become the reason for nearly every fire of
late, as lunacy has become the cause, or excuse
for every murder that takes place nowadays.
And strange that sensible men will credit such
a thing. Nine-tenths of Spontaneous conabuS-
tion" fires occur from the careless use OF
matches after lighting cigar or pipe, where
not directly attributable to an lncendlary. 1t
there was less smoking there would be LITTLE
heard of spontaneous combustion. ''SpOn-
taneous combustion" indeed 1t was the work
of an ncendiary, or more likely of a careless,
smoking clerk.
President Grant is attending the horse races
at Long Branch. A pretty successor to Gen.
Washington. But he must spend his $50, 900
year.
Now, Mr.. Editor, I must close, but let me
say. this letter is rot for those who have been
at Washington frequently, but for those who
have never seen the National Capitol. More
anon. Il.
PROFANITY. Why will men take the name
of God in vain?" What possible advantage is
to be gained by it? And yet this wanton, vul-
gar sin of profanity is evidently on the increase.
Oaths tau non the aars In the and at the