Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-02-06
our wAsHrNaroN LrrrrR.

OUR WA1HIN0TON LETTER.
The WsatAer.-The Society Man and
Woman..Niggardly Econeny..Ds'
partment Clerks and .The1r Pay.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
Correspondence q the Bulletin.
FEBRuARy let, 1874.
Washingtoniaus boast Of the sn
lubrity Of this climate, and if the
weather was always as delightful At
it has been this winter they would
be justified in SO doing. There has
been scarcely cold day, as yet
which is particularly fortunate fol
those young men who visit water
ing. places during the summer
and have fur collars put on their
4 linen busters in December. These
young gentlemen are fondly styled
"bloods," and are very numerous,
It makes but little difference in SO
ciety here whether q man can read
if he is able to dance, part his hair
in the middle, and wear . flower in
his button.hole. Such is the Wash
ingtonian "kociety man." He has
never heard of Scott, Byron, or even
Dickens, but, to use his own ex-
pressive language, he is ''just hi
in the German" He is sometimes
termed a "butteray," but there is
another insect--one chiefly known
for his industry in collecting fertili.
Eers-more akin to him. The soci.
cty-woman is so much below tho
male specimen of the article that
words are totally inadequate to de.
scribe her.
There is an old saw-as true as
most old saws, probably,-which
says that no one can be as economi-
cal as a reformed spendthritt. An
example of this is given by the
present Congress. Not content
with lessening their own pay (small
enough in the first place. everyone's
salary is to be cut down. One SEN
ator, after burning midnight oil in
the laborious study Of "Poor Rich
ards Almanack" and other penuri-
Gus literature, advocates working
government employees from eight
until four, in addition to reducing
their annual supply Of "sputerinck-
tum."
Now l grant that departmental
clerks are as we'll paid for the same
amount Of labor as any class Of men
in the United States; grant, also,
that many of them are more than
worthless, but on the other hand
they are compelled to live in the
most expensive city in the country,
and the great majority Of them are
capable and Industrious. They are
almost invariably "hard up," and
are forced to rattle their watches to
obtain the necessaries of life. When
one dies his office.mates contribute
dollar piece to bury him, and
you could read the Bible, in dia-
mond type, through the thickest
part Of the average clerks overcoat.
l know all about it; I'm one Of 'em.
Oh, "most noble, grave and rcver'
end signors," raise our pay rathe,
than lower it! Do not disgrace the
government by clothing its employ.
es in the costume of Adam, and
feeding them OH the diet Of John
the Baptist!
| We have had, duriug the past two
weeks, q rich theatrical treat in the
engagement of Sothern at Ford's
Opera House. We have had Dun
dreary, Sam, and David Garrick, as
they arc only represented by that
great comedian. He has filed the
theatre to over-fowing, and the
large audiences have been more
than satisfied with his mirth-provo.
kin. delineations. At the National
"a Midsummer Nights Dream
and Saratoga" have been the at
fractions, but have not drawn as
we'll as they deserved.
Gongle and Beecher have lately
delivered lectures here, ut Lincoln
Hall, and were greeted by large
numbers of people, who left we'll
pleased with both. BY the by, one
of our newspapers speaks Of the
pastor of Plymouth church as the
"greatest living pulpit actor" The
next sensation will probably be a
song and dance by that artist, TO a
banjo accompaniment by tho Rev.
Dewitt Talmadgc.
Will give . description of the
new Corcoran Art Gallery and the
Scott statue in my next-as ought
to have done in this. ST.
The s1xods !. 2 ffw1Ns.-These two
brothers belonged to the family of
monsters which are termed in med
ical science autositaries. They
were united by a moderate sized
connecting process, in the center Of
which was single umbilicus.
Their long life has been physiolog.
ical anomaly, as members Of the Pc
culiar group to which they belong
almost invariably die at birth.
They were born in 1911, and
were imported into this country
from Siam about 1912. From that
time to the present they have ex.
cited the wonder Of the world, and
have appeared a problem to physi-
ologiSts which the latter were new.