Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-12-01
A Pierce az washington.

wAsHIseTeS, November 25-The way they
pronounce Pierce in some parts Of New England
their m nuths and pucker. or retain their saw
ings. Is unit nown- Zina Fay Pierce Is the last
o. tie mi-pronounced family we have had in
ashingtpD. Culprit Fay would have been
b. tier; tor the lady exemplihes in the form OF
rroprit ty ard didactic scoldiDg one OF Mt.
brakes stanZss:
= the cr'cket's chirp and the answer shrin
OF the gauze-winged kstydid,
And the plant Of the wailing whippoorwll
Who means unseen, and ceaseless sings
Ever note of wall and woe.''
There are two general classes of people who
visit Wsshington-brida couples and m ,gazine
writer's. Had it been our lot TO have met IN g
latest fay VI could have added to her article.
There IS the Coast Survey building, over which
presides another Pierce-and some have
guessed him to be the father-Iu-law of the Fay
where, without authority of law, the Superin-
tendent has elegant family apartments and
cooking apparatus, and the building itself was
erected by collision with a master brickmsker,
and never had penny Of regular appropria-
ton passed for 1t.
ties feared to come to Congress with a petition
for an appropriation, because they did not want
the question asked why the Coast Survey had
perpetuated itself into permanent bureau of
the government. Created many years ago to
accomplish a temporary and definite result, il
has sided along from year to year like a guest
who has come to paw a visit, but finds 1t incon-
venient TO go without command. 1t was a sur
vey; it is an edifce. and il makes the story of
Lots wife reasonahe-a permanent Old salt IN
the act of moving, bat wholly statuesque. Re-
quiriDg new quarters bnt no publicity, the
Coast Survey authorities hit upon the idea of
guaranteeing the brickman aforesaid stated
YEARLY rent, to be applied from the annual Con-
gressiOnal appropriation, and for sufficient time
TO compensate him for the investment. Here
was collision, and II the Civic Board of Public
Works were to make such an arrangement, th e
newspaper press would have at last that long
expected demonstration of Boss Shepherds one
a there VI i1ph
into public life-in a measure SUNK into exist
ence-a large and costly edifice which the Gov
ernment does not possess, yet rents at so high a
figure as to secure the builder for his expendi-
ture in a very few years. Its private m snsion
also, under cover of public Office, where the
smell of roast beef mocks the hunger of the Wis
itor. Elegant, mysterious, without parentage OF
authenticity, this natural offspring of an in
trigue between a brickmaker and a Sdrdat
stands with the front door near the cOrnice and
the rear in a deep down-hill mash, like an
architectural kangaroo 1t issues perennial
document, which suggests to one the idea OF the
prophets celestial virgins renewed every day,
OF a Chinese drama which runs in parts for our
perpetual edification. The cultivation of polite
literature, and of the boot heels raised in mid
air is carried to perfection at this nondescript
bureau. The chief photographer is an elegant
gentleman who formerly commanded a ship of
war, but, like many sailors, never got over the
NAL de Baer, and preferred a life on the ocean
wave well inland. 1t is he who has proposed
the Improvement of the harbor of Washin gton
by a bulkhead extension which he has computed
TO cost 81, 05O, 900, and which will destroy more
of the natural landscape so deplOred by Mrs.
Pierce, but be-what we presume is of no cOnse-
quence to a female writer-a very sensible and
some time necessary work. We cannot always
have everything sylvan in large city. There
will be nasty sewers and sewer-traps and refuse,
and so forth, for the benefit of censDrious
people. There must be grades for horses,
which are to be considered as well as landsc ape
amateurs, and those grades are also neces-
sary to maintain control of the sewerage and
under
Some people m aintain. as well, that there must
always be Coast Survey, and we suppose that
TO be true; but it was little weak OF the FAY
if she be of the Pierce family aforesaid, to in-
vite attention to the manifest artIice of its new
edIfice while taking to task our poor towns men,
who have improved the one opportunity OF a
century to make the capital worthy of its asso-
Citations, and are the best-abused and abest
body of civic rulers to-day in America. Moth
ing was so unexpected as their resources and
capacity, but the City of Washington has al e
ways been target for assault and for the mean
est form OF American dslOvaity. Conceive the
stupidity, causeless panic, and civic unfriend-
illness of the late capital moving job-a rebel
lion without a motive, without courage, and
without success. 1t made civic spirit in this
belttled and despatched city, which we, whose
chi drens birthplace is endeared to us, will
assist to the utmost Of our endeavOr,-unmoye ed
by clamor, yielding to no gag law, joining no
editorial conspiracy, and trusting that in the
civic annals of the capital we shall be written
amongst those "who loved our fellsw- men,"
Mrs. Pierce's article on Washington is chiefly
hash and growl, as If the nnimal entering into
the hash was still articuiate. Her heart alter
nately "sinks with dismay over the mistaken
frontage of the Capitol, and swells in iniigna-
ton over its surroundings" The value OF her
statistics may be inferred from this sentence
90 AS for the French rooted cottages in neat
lawns that, with their gay slatings, DO " win
dows, and vine-clad porches, are now every
where in the North, they seem absolutely I'M
known" The report of the chief engineer OF
The city, who il an architect, and a good one
shH N ths
MansaTd roofs have been erected on the I,GI2
new houses put up, and we have an inspector
of buildings who is rigorous in his surveillance,
and has himself probably put up 200 Mansard
coverings. Governor Shepherd has covered the
place with bays and Mansard pavillions. All
the lighthouses are so ornamented, and all the
new public constructions, including, believe,
the Coast Survey aforesaid, where we smell the
learned mans man roast beef.
Mrs. Pierce is one of those women who under
take to scold what has been omitted in the
capital city, and says continually, "Why is this
thus" regardless or ignorant of the fact thay
Congress has merely gone on with the public
constructions, and permitted the town TO ram
Bite Up in its own way. 1t has rambled up very
well In eighty years, and we who live in it
prefer 1t to any city IN America. Why are we
damned at and ridiculed, whether we remain
stationary or 20 ahead? Is there anything ex-
trdoIdinary ia city borrowing money after
putting the question to popular vote? Who
could have spent this amount OF money In the
space of time without mourning suspicion? And
lHOiO ID hot oHe punt proven against tue GOV-
ernor except the universal knowledge that he
is the most active private builder in the city,
and had put up hundreds of houses before he
bad any public authority. The way to make "A
capital worthy of the country and re-
spOnsive TO expectation Is to approach
the subject with the feeling of patriot
ism, not grudgiDg every cent nor as
Saulting the national reservation with the acer-
bity OF a provincial scold. Give it liberal ap-
make its local authority coordi-
nate with the public commissioners, give it a
chance, and for Heavens sake spare US from
this dreadful fatality suggested by Mrs. Pierce:
'Why should not second edition Of dignifed
and II spectacle Boston have grown up on the
site OF the national capital?" Horrible idea!
The General turned in his coffin at Mount Yer
non when it was spoken. The genius OF free
dom on the dome said audibly: "Codhsh and
taters." Bean Hckman's mutilated corpse re-
united and seized his gold-headed cane
Christian Hines, the oldest inhabitant, forgot
to draw his pension. The COWS only seemed TO
feel coDplimented, and wanted Harvard Uni.
versitv TO give them degree as government
surveyors. LAERTgs.
Row TO TREAT FLESH WoUNDs.-Every
person should understand how to treat flesh
boz 10 luI.t 10 Ia