The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-07-10
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
WASHINGTON, ID. c., July 4, 1877.

and the thoughts OF the glorious Fourth,
that day of delight to the patriotic heart,
has driven almost every idea from my head.
If had only been born sometime during a
centennial | should doubtless have been
more patriotic; but as that little event did
not occur at such a desirable time, lack
considerable of that zeal which should in
spire every American heart, and on a GER
tain day exhaust itself in firing off all
kinds of horrible fire works. l never did
like the Heather Chinee; and my bosom is
filled with hate when l see the fiendsh
bent of their brain as displayed in the in
vention of these aggravating little things
aptly called "devil chasers." 1t is all
want to know of country. They are
harmless little things to look at $50 is gun
powder, coal oil, razors and Dimicrats),
but you touch a match to these innocent
looking affairs, and the excitement caused
in the immediate neighborhood makes one
think of rush for vacancy in one of our
departments. More fizzing and haste is
displayed than grace. l have suffered SO
much from unreliable fire-crackers and
other Fourth of July arrangements that
my heart grows heavier each succeeding
year.
We, OF rather, Washingtonians are now
agitating themselves upon the question as
to whether they can't have a centennial
here. There seems to be a disposition not
to allow Philadelphia to monopolize every
thing in that line, and some are frantically
calling for another carnival. Any one who
witnessed the gorgeous display that for
three days, four years ago, kept Washing
ton in a state of delight, would naturally
wish for another. / don't see how we
could have another carnival, however, be-
cause we can't get Humboldt. He and
his horses comprised the carnival before.
Every body mistook him for the President,
which mortified him so much, after he had
taken the trouble to come here and dazzle
the Washingtonian eye, that he soon sunk
under the blow.
AT THE TREASURY.
The weather, although excessively hot,
is quite refreshing in its mildness compared
to the real state of affairs at the Treasury
Department. The reorganization of the
Treasury Department is something that
is always talked about, earnestly wished for
by some, and fought against by others.
The present Secretary has been upset
ting things generally ever since he became
the head. He determined to run his own
department, and has succeeded i'll great
measure, and life has been burden to a
number of old centennials who believed
that the department belonged to them, by
the frisky and emphatic way in which he
upset and changed things around generally.
don't think should like to be Secretary,
and 1 think the country, very likely, would
have the same feeling about me if l was.
There is nothing so hard in life as to do
right, and nothing brings man so many
enemies as when he undertakes to walk in
that thorny and unpopular path.
1t is a singular fact that the very men,
bers of Congress who were the pillars Of
the reorganization bill; and got it through
are now spending valuable time in writing
and telegraphing to headquarters i" not to
dismiss young Smith" "be sure to keep
Brown or JONES'" as the case may be. 1t
is astonishing what a thread of persistency
there is in the working of the human mind.
The instant an employee gets his ticket of
leave, he goes to work with all his might
and main to get back. "Short retirement
urges quick return" The Secretary goes
about with a wretched, unhappy look; his
pathway is strewn, not with roses, but
with tears. Saltwater baths can be OBJ
tanned with little trouble now in our be-
loved Treasury. Every woman dismissed
collects her whole family, old grandmother
and all, and proceeds, in solemn and drip
ping procession, to the distracted Secre-
tary, and sings in faltering voice, with
sobbing accompaniment, "Take back the
paper you gave me-" until the miserable
man wishes he was back in old Kentucky,
indulging in peace and Bourbon, where
women, Treasury Departments, whisky
rings, congressman, and other necessary
evils of Washington life did not exist.
FIRE WORKS.
Our Chief of Police, Major Richards,
has forbidden the use of guns, pistols, pow
der and fire crackers on the Fourth, or
fifth of July, so generally that there is
quite growl among our combustible deal
ers. l am panied to note this fact simply
because it Injuries business, and particular
ly that of reporters, who had been prepar-
ing, ever since last July, series of melo-
dious obituaries describing the rapid transit
of numerous children into better world
through fiery medium. But that is all
played now. Children mangled and pow
der-pitted will cease to be feature of the
day. Pedestrians will not have the su-
preme pleasure of treadng on hidden tor
pedoes and being raised several hundred
feet at each corner by ingeniously- located
"Unions," only to be pursued and confa-
grated by spit fires and devil chasers when
they alight. Ladies will actually be allow
ed on the street tomorrow, and the only
sufferers will be the newspapers and the
boys
BONANZA.
The past week has been a bonanza to
reporters, affordng a continual run of muir
ders, attempted murders, sunstrokes and
various other accidents.
Any amount of laborers were sunstruck.
and really, when we examine the state of
the weather, it does look as though there
wasn't any thing left US but to be sun
stricken and die. To delay upon the usual
coal oil affairs is of little worth. Coal oil
and kerosene are uncertain domestic neces-
sites, and we must take our chances.
Lem Weeden, the rough shot on the 23d
ult., persistently refuses to act in accord
ance with well-wishing public, and he is
in fair way to recover. l don't say that
l regret this, for that would be rather
harsh, and perhaps he may reform. Reddy
Welsh, of Washington, and John Allen, of
New York, did for while, j. II. P.