The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-09-19
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Sept. 18th, 1874

WARRINGTON, u. u, Sept. 18th, 1874.
DEAR WHIG:-Even now while the Sep
TENDER suns are almost as fierce as those of
July and August, we begin to perceive
signs Of the returning season, when the
glories of Newport, Long Branch and Sar-
atoga shall pale before the splendors Of
our Capital winter. All the long summer
months we have been in sort of mourn
ing and desolation; the Capital deserted,
tho Departments silent and gloomy, ten
anted only by drowsy messengers and plod-
ding clerks, and methedical bureau officers,
porting over the never-ending columns of
figures and the ever open ledgers, signing
and countersigning those ever-increasing
mountains of routine documents which
every mornings mail brings from every
quarter of the globe. We have missed the
busy Congressman and the sedate Senator
on his morning round of duty from Depart
ment to Department, attending, as the
phrase goes, to the interests of his consti-
tuents. But now faint rustic of business
is heard in the hotel corridors; or on the ave-
nue-our great avenue, which has become
as famous in its way as the Partisan Boule-
Yards, associated with many of the most
memorable events of our history, with
regiments marching to the great war, and
the return of the legions of the North,
with jefferson and jackson, and inaugural
professions for more than seventy years
the Avenue is beginning to look bright
with new life, to hustle with an activity
to which it has been for months stranger.
What dull and dreary summer we have
had. No excitement about the Board of
Public Works, no injunction suits, no torn
up streets; the sounds of the hammer and
the rolling machine, and the angry mutter-
ings of the sullen opponents of the city's
advancement and improvement-all hush
ed and silent as though they had never ex-
listed. The old form of government passed
away as noiseless as the morning dew of
June, and the new Commissioners assum-
ed control as softly as the buds and flowers
and verdure in the parterres of our public
parks. That they have shed around them
the same sweet fragrance, am not alto
gether certain; for, day after day, can be
witnessed scores of patriotic and contrite
contractors around the Commissioners
Office, in anything but cheerful frame of
mind.
terrible districts and their dread constitu-
encies. to answer for sins of omission and
commission, Washington has been, CON-
paratively speaking, forgotten. The Ma
tional eye which had been turned towards
us during so many months Of investigation,
or introspection, swung round in another
direction, and the able editors, who during
SO many days and nights sat in their edi-
torial chairs and applied to us SO many
endearins terms, suddenly began to con-
template the Fall elections and the sweet
and tender evidences Of Christian goodness
in the serene and beatific atmosphere of
Brooklyn. Boss Shepherd gave way to the
Plymouth Pastor, and instead of backing
politicians, we were told of Matchmaking
editor and his wicked partner, the Free
Loveism of Woodruff, the simplicity of
Bessie, the falling from grace of that icicle
of propriety-the gentle Susan, the gush
and softness of Elizabeth, what Henry
wrote, and Oliver said, and Sam promised,
and the sainted Theodore suffered. With
the returning season, however, 1 hope that
Washington will regain her old position;
and what is thought, and said, and done at
the National Capital will resume its old
attraction and Importance. AS have said
the signs multiply on every hand.
The cool morning air along the Long
Branch beach reminds the President that
the time for State dinners and the courtesies
of the Capital has almost arrived. Accord
ingly, this week, the precious Jewell we
have brought back from beneath the cold
and inclement Russian skies, to our softer
Italian air and sweet south winds, is to be
appropriately honored. The gay equipages
which have been the delight and admiration
of the loungers at the springs and on the
sea- shore, again begin to roll over our
unequaled pavements. Mrs. Gen. Sherman
bids some sixteen hundred guests to the
marriage of her daughter, to be celebrated
with the gorgeous ceremonial of the Catho-
lie Church, by one of that Church's Arch
bishops. Hundreds of workmen toll day
and night in the seventy rooms of the new
house of the British representative. Mrs.
Dahlgren, who seems ambitious to be con-
sidered the Madam de Stael of our republi-
can society, promises new edition of that
" Wondrous Book on Etiquette" which
aims to decide such intricate questions as
to what lady should make the first call, and
to soften the boorish manners of Granger
Congressman. In fact, "Society" gener-
ally is in delightful tremor, preparing for
the coming season, which will, no doubt,
bring with it the same weary, and vain, and
proftless round of so-called pleasure.
OBSERVER.