The Portland daily press., 1874-04-29
A Portland Girl in Washington.
A City of Magnificent Dista nces-M arIkef-
ing-The African-The Veto and the
weather Centennial - Science and
Amuse me nts-Drives in and about ash
hngtOn.


l wish L could talk to you about the district
investigation just now so active here, the per-
formances of the Board of Public Works. the
excitement, over the Sanborn contracts. etc.
ETC., but at the bare thought of such an at
tempt foresee series of hopeless founder
ings. One gets so mixed up hearing people dis
cuss what they know nothing at all about. If
our scope extends only over every day trifies, it
is best to keep within it and if we haven't
taste for metaphysics lets say two and two are
four rather than question as to whether, in some
other planet, that satisfactory conclusion could
be reached
First of all in the city of Washington we are
struck by its magnificent distances" Let me
quote" standing at the site of the Capitol
bnilding as the centre we have this immense
area divided by wide streets crossing each 9th
er at right angles, while radiating to every
point of the compass and in remote parts of
the city crossing diagonally the rectangular
streets, are broad magnificent avenues with
many reserved sites for public buildings and
seventeen large reservations for parks, or for
government use, dotting the plan in all parts
of the city. Of these, varying in width from
ninety to one hundred and sixty feet there are
one hundred and ninety-fye miles of streets
and sixty-fve miles of avenues, the
area thus appropriated to thoroughfare
being more than all the area of
the reservations and building lots together"
Think Of that, girls, after the crooked ways of
Boston for instance. Room to swing innumera-
BILE cats!
The general idea of the plan of Washington
originated with L'Enfant a French architect
One OF the many ideas in its arrangements and
one suggested no doubt by Paris during the
French revolution, is that it is impossible to
barricade the streets unless the defences run
the whole length of the city.
1t is great sport to go marketing. Within
the immense market-place, all in one building
are hundreds of stalls with every variety of
vendibles: not only the stocks of meats, fish
and vegetables but bake-shops departments
for confectionery, flowers and plants, Dutch
tables and even millinery. Crowds of people
bustling about, darkeys carrying huge baskets
to receive the purchases, everybody chatterng
to the statesmen or to acquaintance they may
meet-whie you occasionally catch French
or German phrase-make of it an odd and a
h'OiY oCChC' LuCIc dlc lIcSu IdulSLtS ttuu itb-
tuce, greer peas and Strawberries; the old wo-
men who sit outside, all along the edges of the
pavement offer you punches of wild flowers
And the darkeys! shall never learn to look
upon them solemnly. sit is necessary to
laugh at a small girl done in charcoal, who, as
the steam-cars enter the city, becomes very ex-
cited and scampers about in bright green
dress and large shoes, ducking her woolly head
at us, with delighted chuckle. 1t is ques-
ton in my mind why the negro brethren al
ways wear trousers too short to cover their an
kles was amused to see the patronizing air
with which his majesty our colored butler be-
slowed aims upon ragged specimen of a like
hue with himself.
OF course there is vast deal to be seen in and
about the Captol,-that dignifed body the Sen :
ate and the House of Representatives where the
members are as eager and obstreperous as a
parcel OF school boys. Indeed, it would be very
stupid to try and tell you of the sight seeing
which strangers here accomplish and which you
have heard all about There is enough to keep
one busy and interested for long tlme
Didn't they use to tell US that wondrous pow
er lay in Jove's eyebrows; that upon his frown
hung the destines of worlds? This time the
Presidential wink meant veto and great is
the glee and gladness thereat.
So that vexed question seems to be settled
Would that as much could be said of theweather
The conversation upon this universal theme is
getting monotonous and runs somewhat like
those illustrative sentences in Quackenboss-"It
rains. Does it rain?-How it ains!-Rain!!p'
But when mediate upon the fact that there are
regions of perpetual snow-nothing personal
intended-I gaze gratefully at the green grass
and grumble net. We are informed too, per-
haps not from quite so venerable a source as
odd Probabilities" but on good authority that
very soon now we shall jump into warm wealth
er. The chance seems slippery yet, but we are
quite ready for the attempt. After our long
winter dose of hot sunshine would be most
beneficial.
During the past few weeks the subject of the
centennial celebration has been receiving some
attention. Mrs. Gillespie of Philadelphia, with
quite a number of ladies, who have an interest
in the matter, from different States, appeared
before a committee of the Senate, read various
letters from women of the South warmly COM
mendng the project, and urged the Interna-
WHICH ACoeuiC VI oHC CclcUIdIlOu. Liz 1udtGer
is to come up before the Senate the 9Th of May.
More interest has already been awakened, the
feminine force is in earnest and determined to
succeed, and who ever knew a woman to make
up her mind she would do thing and then
fail to accomplish it?
The Annual Meeting of the National Acad-
envy of Sciences has just been brought to a
close, after a somewhat longer session than
usual. The principal attractions in the amuse-
ment line for the past week have been the KEEL
logg Opera Troupe and the performances of
the Vokes family. DR.. Brown Sequard has
been lecturing upon the subject, "Have we two
brains or one, and if two why do we educate
but one?" The answer is not that antiquated
slang, ''Give it up" but, as nearly as could
make out, that we haze two brains, that the
left brain is of greater size and has healthier
supply of blood than the right; that this brain
controls the right side Of the body and the
right brain the left side; if, therefore, we should
develop the muscles of the left leg and arm to
greater extent, there is, he says, chance
that we should secure greater development to
the right brain. That isn't lucid, 1 admit, but
it is the fault of my inexperience as reporter;
tue icC6urt lISell Was interesting. LIZ. DrOW0-
Sequards accent is as FrenchIfed as any
English I ever heard, and when he pronounced
the word development, of which he made cons
tinual use, Development" the effect was
rather startling.
1t is positive delight to drive about Wash
ington; the broad streets are so smooth it is
like rolling along hard floor. A pleasant
jaunt is to Arlington, and the view from the
house there, formerly occupied by Robert Lee,
is very fine There is good deal to interest
one at Alexandria, too. 1t was with great sat
isfaction that l seated myself in Geo. Wash
ipgton's pew in Christ Church, an odd, ivy
mantled little sanctuary The inscriptions up
on some of the tomb-stones in the churchyard
are very old and correspondingly droll. Not
that everything aged must necessarily be fun
ny, but it is the case with epitaphs. Then Mt
Vernon, the Soldiers Home, the Corcoran Art
Gallery, the Louise Home, the Smithsonian,
the different government departments, the OBJ
servatory, are only few of the many attrac-
lions to people of an inquiring mind PIP,
Washington News and Gossip.