Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-02-10

Alexander Dimitry. He is as scintlllant as
Reverdy johnson. He is quite as effective
raconteur as Robert J. Walker or John Tomp-
! son Gray-without Office; without fortune; with
only bis wit. Quid rides? The man is not
a shallow pated humbug; he is good scholar;
| he is a very fine gentleman; ne has prodlgI-
Gus memory, and vast experience OF the world.
| Tie statesman does not avoid him as mere
adveuturer, because he interests the statesman;
| and statesmen, like other people, have their
emotions, aud are moved. Genius will tell,
and there is--in this Wretched old, crotchety
| world of shame--a genlns Tor fallure Whlcn
conciiates the genius OF success. A success
| full man is ever hattered by the attention,
and usually pleased by the companloonshlp'
of brilliant failure, who does not happen
| to be cyuic or a BORE lie sees his supe-
rior beneath him--ovcly prospect he
smiles with a good-uatured compacency,
| and will listen and do This constitutes Sam
Wards power. There is no place at Wash
ipgton which Sam Ward has not the capacity
to gil with misunderstanding him fair con-
ditions-frnm that of BristoW to that OF cchurz,
running along through the romdeau ot govern
meut business. You ask why, then, is he
mock monarch with a crown OF straw upon
his head? It is the fate of some men to trlb-
BILE away their lives. TO them life Is mere
comedy. They evade its tragic places by
sacrificing its spleudor; and they end, as all
ambition ends, in grand hoale OF dlsap'
pointmeut and regret. 1t is not our purpose
to dissect, psychoogically, this present king
Of the lobby, who has given Us such graph
ic aud amusing sketch of himself and his
vocation. We merely take his visible man
ip outline and in charcoal; leaving his
strange career-like that Of other heroes hid
in mist. Who is he? Whence came he :?
Bless your simple soul, how do We know ?
| Ask the Wandering Jew, ask the Three Guards
| men ask Herr Spielhageu for his adven-
lures in Germany, ask Nine George Sand for
his adventures 10 France. Perhaps they will
| tell you. 80,
! What stride there is across the gulf be-
tween the first and the last klngS OF the
lobby, between Coouel john Dade, tamll-
isrly known as Colonel Jack Dade, and
Mr. Samuel Ward The one was all rutHe
and very little shirt the other has most
capacous shirt, with a gorgeous trill. The
| one touk his cocktail in bar room,
simple minded gentleman whose capital cou-
sisted Of what We call gush. The other com
mands ali the modern inventions and couven
| cnccs "a sentimental stock broker in modern
ethics. The oue chewed tobacco. The other
drinks Chatteua Yqeln and smokes hookah.
| The one rose at a. N. The other rises at
| noon and takes his cafe au ait in a recumbent
| posture. The one was Arthur of the Round
Table the other is-shall we say it Fixing
Charles the Second, the merry monarch to
whom all things are but the while Always of
time and care, magnificent speudthrift, use
ful to everybody, seeking iu the amusement Of
others his own pleasures, bagatele of fortune
happiest and most glitteriug in the air.
O!G Jack D.de, the soveoly gush Samuel
Ward, the brilliant man-of all-work which OF
the two secured the prize of perfect otium cum
dguitate sought by both-which Of them real
! ly got his ''snecurc ?" The dead monarch or
| the living king